The Game From the Future But In The Past
by SmirkJr
Summary: Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, wakes up to find himself in his mind with two Kyūbi no Kitsune in sight, one of them behind bars, and his friends surrounding him. To make matters more odd, he finds that his son's birthday present is now the source of his newfound power, and unsure of how. [Chapter 3: updated, 10/26/16]
1. Naruto Hears Voices Now

Hey-o! Now, before some of you jump to conclusions, I am merely posting this as an idea. It just came to me, and I liked it. I will continue 'To Protect,' for those who also read that story. I will not be continuing other stories just yet. Despite being on break, I am both a lazy writer and a bit occupied with volunteering this summer (I really need the hours...).

I don't know the _entire_ Naruto story, by the way. I only know:

Everything from the beginning to Sasuke's defection

Naruto's return after the timeskip to Pain's assault (not all of it since I just played the game)

The battle with a certain horn-headed white-haired lady (again, from a game)

Naruto and Sasuke's final battle (still from a game)

And that's pretty much it. Small list, I know.

Either way, Naruto is one of my favorite anime/manga series next to Bleach, Fairy Tail, and One Piece. As such, I love reading good fanfictions about them (read: no bashing, excellent use of conventions, good choice of words, in-character dialogue and everything else concerning the characters unless it's mentioned beforehand and used sparingly, good pacing, no long boring descriptions, etc.). I know, I know, a somewhat long list, but I'll shorten it to this: the words cannot convey any simple-mindedness the writer may or may not have, the text has to make sense (meaning no bad grammar and/or spelling and/or punctuation. Bad capitalization is okay to me in small quantities few and far between), and the story itself has to be _good_ (and accurate to canon, but that's just a personal preference). No "absolutely cruel Sasuke just because he was an asshole most of the story" or a "crazy, close-minded fangirl Sakura who can't think for herself and sides with Sasuke extremely fast even when everyone hates her for it" or any of that shit. Those are horrible characterizations people tend not to mention before the story starts. Plus, with those "bashed characters," I only see writers who absolutely don't see one of the most outstanding lessons that Naruto teaches: hatred only makes more hatred (or various other second-most-important lessons that people don't seem to get either). If you want to say something about how you hate Naruto because "he chases after Sasuke even though the motherfucker tried to kill him multiple times" (and that's an actual guest review on one of my favorite stories, after quite a bit of cleanup), that's fine, but I have something to say to you: you don't have any stories to speak of, so even _I'm_ doing better than you (and if you do happen to have some stories of your own, your stories are probably no good either way).

Anyway, sorry about the rant. I tend to dislike those types of people (I think I'm being kind of hypocritical when I say that, but whatever).

However, I'll tell you something I like: time travel stories (in case you haven't read my other stories, mostly time travel) and, just recently, video game stories. Which is why I decided to write this; it's a mixture of the two, with a little... _extra_ to it as well.

Also, just a heads up, I don't know the entire story of Naruto very well (and especially not the Naruto: The Last movie), as I'm still working my way through it. As I said, this is just an idea, so input is almost mandatory (meaning this: if you give me input, I know _you_ at least understood the point of this chapter, terrible or not.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I shall start simple with the disclaimer this time.

* * *

 ** _Pilot: "When I say 'Don't just stand there,' you're supposed to_ MOVE! _"_**

* * *

"Naruto! What's going on here?!"

Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, was lying down with his eyes closed before that little outburst. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and opened them. Not a foot away from his face was a glaring Sakura, with Hinata, Sasuke, and Shikamaru in view behind her. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked at Sakura. In addition to Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura, he found that Tenten, Shino, Sai, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro stood to his left, and Kakashi (who, for once, wasn't reading porn in broad daylight), Ino, Tenten, Kiba, Akamaru, and Chōji to his right. Everyone was staring at him.

"Sakura? Everyone? What's going on?" he asked groggily, staring at Sakura dumbly.

Most of the surrounding people saw a tic mark at Sakura's temples and backed away. "That's what I just asked _you_ , you moron!" she shouted, giving him a lump on his head. One could hear the sound quite clearly (along with an "Oww!" from Naruto).

Rubbing his head, Naruto's head was finally clear enough to look around and take in the surroundings. He first looked down to confirm that what was under him was not a bed, but water (which, luckily, he was subconsciously supporting himself on using his chakra) and around to see that he was not in the Hokage's room he was so used to. On the other hand, he still knew exactly where he was (but he still didn't know _why_ , of course).

"W-*yawn*-why are we _here_ -ttebayo?" Naruto asked, getting up off the water.

"So you _do_ know where we are," Shikimaru deduced.

Naruto nodded. "This is in my head," he answered bluntly, as if such a crazy statement had no weight. He hardly noticed everybody expressing their surprise through gasping, "eeh?"-ing, etc. He was busy looking around.

" _This_ is your mindscape? ...Is this water _brown_? Please don't tell me we're standing on _sewage,_ Naruto!" Ino whined, looking to him for an answer.

" **Noisy brats! Shut up!** " came an echoing voice from in front of the group, jerking all their attention to it (including Akamaru's growling).

"Huh? Kurama?" Naruto asked. Then he finally noticed something odd... "Why is the seal here?" He stared at the enormous jail-cell-esque bars, puzzled.

" **Who the hell are you people? Last I checked, I was being contained inside one tiny blonde moron, not a whole bunch of other people** ," came the voice. Everyone finally directed their attention to the bars and noticed the slitted red eyes and the predatory smile full of sharp teeth that was present behind the bars.

"That's the Nine-Tailed Fox?" Sai asked.

"B-But he seems... angry," Hinata noted.

"Kurama? Why is the seal here? What happened?" Naruto asked.

" **Why do you know my name, human? Nobody has the right to call me that except my dead creator** ," the face of the fox shot back.

"Huh? It's me... Uzumaki Naruto. The guy who became the Seventh Hokage, remember?" Naruto was only more confused that the 'demon fox' wasn't recognizing him.

" **Heh. Nice try, but Uzumaki Naruto has not become the Hokage, nor will he ever. The town hates him, and he sucks at everything. If anything, he's bound to die from his arrogance** ," the Kyūbi rebutted.

Nobody spoke for a minute; everyone was drinking in that information (with a grain of salt each, mind you).

" **Naruto, who are you talking to? I was trying to sleep** ," came another, calmer voice from behind the group. Everyone turned to see _another_ set of slitted red eyes. The difference was that this Kyūbi wasn't behind the bars of a seal.

"Another one?" Temari wondered out loud.

"Kurama..." Naruto mumbled.

" **Huh? What are all of you doing here? One human to keep me company was enough, you know.** " Kurama, seeing there was company, pushed himself onto his legs.

"We have no idea. We just woke up here one by one," Tenten stated.

"We didn't even know where 'here' was until about two seconds ago," Shikamaru added.

" **Ah. I guess we'll have to figure that one out, then. Any ideas, Naruto?** " Kurama asked.

"No. I remember being at Boruto's birthday party, then things are blurry after that-ttebayo..." Naruto stated.

" **Who the hell are you, impostor?** " came the voice of the first fox, bringing everyone's attention to him once more.

" **Huh? Me, an impostor? Hah! What about you? How did you get here? And behind bars, no less. How badly did you screw up... whatever it is you were doing?** " asked Kurama (the kind).

The Kyūbi behind bars growled. " **I didn't do anything, if you must know! Someone was manipulating me and I could only sit back and watch as that blasted Uchiha made me wreak havoc on a village! Granted, the humans deserved it... Bah. Why am I even talking to you about this? You wouldn't understand, seeing as you're friendly with _humans_ of all creatures** ," he shouted, causing an echo to roar in the enormous sewer and forcing the aforementioned humans to cover their ears.

"What is going on here? I thought there was only one Kurama!" Naruto shouted.

" **You know as much as I do, kit** ," Kurama answered.

" ** _I believe_ I _know the answer to that question._** "

Everyone started upon hearing that new voice. They craned their necks looking around, but could not identify the source. Naruto, however, recognized the voice itself. "Old Man Six Paths? What are you doing here-ttebayo?" he asked the voice.

"'Old Man Six Paths'? You recognize this voice, Naruto?" Gaara deduced.

"So do I. He is the Sage of Six Paths," Sasuke elaborated.

"He gave Naruto and Sasuke-kun chakra near the end of the war," Sakura added.

"So that's what he sounds like..." Shikamaru filed this away into his memory.

"Old Man Six Paths, where are you?" Naruto continued, still looking around.

" **Never mind that; what are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead!** " Kyūbi interjected.

" _ **It's a long story, my young Kurama. My chakra lived on through my sons, who have been reincarnated through the centuries. When their chakra, which is present within these reincarnations, comes together, I will appear**_ ," the disembodied Sage of Six Paths explained. " _ **And, to answer your question, Naruto, I am over here**_ ," he added, no longer disembodied. Everyone could now see him appearing. There was now a string of chakra stemming from Naruto and Sasuke, which everyone followed with their eyes to the Rikudō Sennin, who was becoming more visible with each passing second.

" **Now, what about the mini-me over there behind the bars? What's the deal with that?** " Kurama (the one outside the bars) asked him.

" ** _I do not know why there are two of you, Kurama, nor do I know why you all suddenly appeared within the mindscape of a thirteen-year-old Uzumaki Naruto, but I can tell that the young boy's body has now changed from your appearing here._** " The Sage was now fully visible in all his white-robed wisdom and coolness.

"How has his body changed? And he's not very young..." Sai asked. Naruto's head drooped at this (out of shock, not sadness) and one could hear him mumble "I'm not very old either-ttebayo."

The old Sage chuckled at the blond man's expense. " _ **Don't worry, Naruto. Old age comes for us all eventually**_ ," he joked good-naturedly (and _now_ Naruto is depressed). " _ **Now, to answer your question, he is no longer within his mature body. Likewise, neither are any of you. From my perspective, you all suddenly appeared within this young boy's mind, without any warning, one day, and his body then changed. His body is now less... definite, if you will. He is no longer merely capable of appearing to be his young self. It's quite a hard task to explain this phenomenon. I suppose one could liken the change to melting metal: before this change, his body, like a piece of metal, was only capable of holding one appearance, one shape, and there was no way for him to change his shape aside from the 'Transformation Jutsu' I have seen ninja use, which is only temporary and a conscious effort. However, if one were to melt a piece of metal, it would be possible to shape this metal into a different shape; similarly, he now has the ability to change his body to suitably support different 'molds,' or people - in this case, you all.**_ " He tried as best he could to explain.

"I see. So, basically, we're in the mind of a younger Naruto, whose body has now change to be able to support different people's physical attributes..." Shikamaru summarized.

" _ **As far as I have figured out, that seems to be the case**_ ," the old man answered.

"Wow, Old Man Six Paths, you're really smart!" Naruto praised, grinning his usual "big idiot grin."

" _ **Thank you** **. However, I merely noticed the difference in his physical energy when you all appeared. Either way, I imagine that, even if one of you were to take over his body, he won't be able to change all that much due to the fact that he possesses less mass than any of you appear to have had, provided you**_ **are _from the future as I suspect_** ," the old sage explained dismissively.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait... the future? What are you suggesting, old man?" Sasuke asked (calmly, contrary to how this writing may have made it seem he was asking).

"I believe I can answer that," Shikamaru intervened. "He said that we are inside a thirteen-year-old Naruto, but the Naruto we know isn't thirteen anymore. Likewise, he said that we suddenly 'appeared' in this place from his perspective, and that's basically the same for us," he explained, gesturing around.

" **Are you suggesting we traveled through time somehow, Nara? Hagoromo?** " Kurama asked him.

"It's the only possibility given the circumstances," Shikamaru noted.

" _ **It would appear so**_ ," the old man answered.

"So... there's no possibility we were kidnapped or something more sensible?" Sasuke asked.

"No, us travelling through time seems more reasonable to me. After all, what kind of kidnapper would possess a second Kyūbi no Kitsune?" Shikamaru responded rhetorically, "...and in a sewer?" he added, quirking an eyebrow.

" _ **Indeed. I believe such a place makes for an extremely unhygienic hideout**_ ," Hagoromo answered. " _ **However, with this information, perhaps you can tell me if the... device now ingrained into young Naruto's arm resembles anything you know from your past lives in the future**_ ," he added.

"Huh? Device?" Tenten asked.

The old sage simply held his palm out and an image appeared. In the image was a bright-skinned arm and hand, and there was what appeared to be a digital touchscreen embedded into the arm... No, 'embedded' isn't quite the right word... it was as if the skin of his arm _became_ the screen; the skin was a shiny black as opposed to the bright-colored skin around it.

"...Boruto's new game system?" Hinata asked in confusion.

" ** _What is this 'game system' you speak of? I have not seen one before_** ," the white-robed sage asked, closing his hand and returning it to his side (the image didn't disappear, though).

"Well, technology has developed over the years, and people adapted technology to entertainment. That's how the portable video game system came to be," Tenten explained, never taking her eyes off the image.

"In our time, people sell portable game systems to make money. We decided to buy our son the newest system for his sixteenth birthday, since he's been working so hard to become stronger," Hinata explained.

" _ **I see. It's an intriguing concept; a form of entertainment that never leaves a small area of space... Interesting**_ ," the sage summarized.

"I guess that applies too..." Kankuro commented.

" _ **However, that poses the question: what is this device from your time doing as part of young Naruto's arm?**_ " Hagoromo asked.

"I... think it was the Hiraishin," Naruto commented.

"Eh? Naruto, you learned the Hiraishin? Since when?" Kakashi asked out of curiosity, looking at the aforementioned man.

"Well, not exactly. I was learning fūinjutsu in my free time after taking care of my family and I've gotten pretty good. I made a couple storage seals and explosive tags as practice, and I think they're pretty good," Naruto explained, reaching into the pouch on his leg and pulling out a scroll and an explosive tag and handing them to Tenten, who examined them and gasped in surprise.

"Woah, these are really advanced! Where did you learn how to make these?" she asked him in amazement.

"Eheheh... Well..." Naruto answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "I had a little help from a fellow Uzumaki who knew the basics..."

"Another Uzumaki? Who?" Chōji asked.

"You don't mean-" Sakura guessed. However, Sasuke interrupted her before she finished.

"Karin, huh?" he smirked.

"Yeah. In just a week, she taught me more about my clan, things I never knew about us, by going through the records at Orochimaru's hideout. Did you know the Uzumaki had a whole village? Their own village!" Naruto answered.

"So she taught you the basics?" Sakura guessed again, smiling.

"Yep, and from there, it was just practice, practice, practice. My clones blew themselves up so many times until we got the hang of making a seal. Then I had the idea to try and make something from the Scroll of Sealing into a single-use seal tag, like an exploding tag," Naruto continued.

"Good for you, Naruto," Kakashi answered, doing the eye-smile thing with his eyes.

Shikamaru only sighed. "So you decided the Hiraishin was a good idea to try first, huh?" he asked knowingly.

"Yeah, I wanted to try that one first, since my dad used it a lot, but... well, that one I used at the birthday party was my... first try," Naruto admitted, going sheepish again and putting his hand on the back of his head. He was smiling nervously.

This made Tenten fall over. Surely, the idiot had already figured out you're _never_ supposed to use your first of any handmade seal so casually? Tenten knew that any seal master worth anything at all would know this, and Naruto managed to make such advanced storage scrolls and exploding tags through trial and error alone, so why in the world would he use the "first try" outside of a testing environment?

Oh, right, he was Naruto; forget being more mature, he was still the same idiot who basically grew up on instant ramen.

"So, we all made contact with the faulty Hiraishin seal and Naruto, then it activated and now we're here... how troublesome..." Shikamaru summarized.

"I _told_ you, didn't I? You shouldn't experiment on people, especially with a time-space Ninjutsu. You know I speak from experience, right?" Sasuke scolded, sighing.

"Well, it could be worse, at least... we could be forced to deal with a drunk Lee if Naruto hadn't given him a last minute mission..." Temari noted.

"Wait, where's Boruto? I think he was touching his game system when the seal activated, and the game system is right there, on Naruto-kun's arm, so..." Hinata asked.

"...Actually, something was flying for my face back at the party, which is what shocked me into activating the seal. Now that I think about it, it looked like the game system; that was the arm I used to block it," Naruto noted.

" **That still doesn't explain how there're two of me in here, ya know!** " came the Kyūbi's voice from inside the bars.

" **Actually, it makes perfect sense now, other me** ," Kurama answered.

" **How?!** "

" **Simple. I am you in the future. Really, were you not paying any attention? Did you not notice that I have more chakra than you? Or the fact that _you're_ behind bars and I'm not?**"

The jailed beast (yes, that was a play on words) could not retort to that at all, so he opted to not look stupid by trying.

" _ **Ahem**_ ," Hagoromo grunted to get their attention, " ** _it would appear Naruto is waking up. Let us watch what happens._** "

* * *

Naruto woke up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He looked over at where Hinata would have been, only to find that his bed was for one.

'Oh, that's right. I'm a little kid again,' he remembered in a phrase.

Keeping his eyes open, he yawned, stretching his arms upward and arching his back. "Ugh... what time is it?" he wondered aloud absentmindedly.

" **6:00 A.M.** " came a mature feminine voice. This brought Naruto's attention to the device on his wrist now, where he noticed two things:

One, the game system with a black touchscreen replacing the skin of his wrist.

Two, a box was glowing on the otherwise black screen where, sure enough, the current time was in the middle.

"Hmm..." he mumbled. Cautiously, he tapped the box. Suddenly, the box changed, making Naruto start just a bit despite being ready for something. Specifically, the "6:00 A.M." disappeared and the box expanded, reading " **PAUSED** ", covering the entire black area on the top of his wrist, spreading out like a shockwave. As Naruto followed this "wave," he saw it extend far beyond just the black screen on his wrist, despite the box stopping at its boundaries; it traveled along the ground through the shadow of his arm on the bed. It moved fast, too; within a second, the wave had frozen his entire room, making the room (and the world outside, he noticed when looking through the window) green and white (as opposed to black and white). The green was not overpowering (think _green screen_ ), but noticeable (like grass or bushes or *gasp* leaves). Then, right after that, a cluster of letters floated up from the black band, finally stopping in midair once they had arranged into words.

 **Paused**

Resume

Stats

Equipment

Traits

Techniques

Missions

Relations

Training Missions **  
[LOCKED: Must achieve Genin Rank to unlock]**

Help

Save

Naruto scratched his head in confusion. "What the heck is going on-ttebayo? 'Missions?' 'Traits?' 'Training Missions?' What are these?" he mumbled. Suddenly, more text appeared in a box next to all these options while also being read aloud by that woman from earlier.

 **? : Oh? Is this _really_ your first time opening the pause menu? You must be  
** **new** **to this game.**

"This is a videogame, huh? I've never played these things before," Naruto interrupted. The box with these words shrunk out of existence, to be replaced with another box, again being dictated as the words appeared.

 **Haruka : I'm the in-game assistant, Haruka. I will make you go ****through this tutorial so you don't lose all your sanity being stuck** **in the** **pause menu forever. I will go over all these options so you know what you're doing.** **  
**

"Oh, thanks, Haruka-neechan," Naruto said. Another box appeared, replacing the old one.

 **Haruka : You're in a videogame. You really have no choice but to play along, but you ****said it yourself: you've never played a videogame. I've no choice but to help you.** **And, basically, I'm a voice in your head.** **Don't worry about that, though.** **Just _pay attention_.**

"You're a commanding one, aren't you?" Naruto deadpanned. He sighed. "Fine, fine, whatever. Go on."

 **Haruka : Good, you're paying attention. As I was saying, here is what each of the options basically means:  
Resume: Unfreezes reality (so you can continue playing for your life)  
Stats: Lets you see your stats (so you can see how strong you are)  
Equipment: Here you can put things you pick up on your person (so you can use them)  
Traits: Lets you see what you can do passively (meaning without trying)  
Techniques: Shows you techniques you've learned (pretty self-explanatory)  
Missions: Keeps track of your missions (more useful than you might think)  
Relations: Shows you how good you are with which people (or how badly you fucked up)  
Training Missions: Allows you to fight monsters you wouldn't find in real life to grow stronger (yes, you get an unfair advantage)  
Help: Here you can find all the tutorials you will ever need (because you will forget something sooner or later)  
Save: Allows you to make a special point in time and space (so, if you die, you won't lose _everything_ )**

"Oh... That's awesome, ya know! Real life would've been so much better off with this stuff! So, wait, what exactly is this 'pause' thing? I didn't totally get it," Naruto asked.

 **Haruka : Really? You couldn't tell by the water bucket precariously hanging ****over your head?**

And, indeed, when Naruto looked up, there was a water bucket hanging over his head tipped over. However, it wasn't moving at all; the water was supposed to be pouring out of the bucket, even already partially out, yet gravity didn't appear to be applying to anything right now.

"Gah! When did that get there?!" Naruto yelled.

 **Haruka : You're a heavy sleeper.**

"But you're a voice in my head! How did you set that up?!" Naruto asked, panicking.

 **Haruka : I have my ways. Now, let's keep going. You don't want to miss a beat at school today, do you?**

Naruto sighed. "If I get wet from that water bucket, I will find a way to get you back for this," he grumbled.

 **Haruka : Yeah, yeah. Anyway, first, just something you should know, you can speak or touch the word ****for the menu you want; I'll know what you're talking about either way.**

"Okay, okay, keep going," Naruto commanded, bored.

 **Haruka : Fine. Open the "Stats" menu yourself.**

"Okay," he said, "'Stats.'"

Instantly, the words slid into nonexistence to the left. Then, right after that, new words and numbers appeared from the right, until it looked like this.

 **Back**

 **Stats**

 **Level: 3 Exp.: 0/50**

 **HP: 800/800 (Base+50 [Uzumaki Lifeblood])**

 **Chakra: 1500/1500 (Base+50+500+500 [Uzumaki Lifeblood] and [Jinchūriki(Kyūbi)] and [Jinchūriki(Kurama)])**

 **Strength: 20 (+11 [Taijutsu Novice 2])**

 **Speed: 13 (+11 [Taijutsu Novice 2])**

 **Accuracy: 10 (+34 [Experience-Hardened Shinobi(Kage)])**

 **Endurance: 16 (+32 [Uzumaki Lifeblood])**

 **Knowledge: 10 (+35 [Time Traveler])**

 **Perception: 0 (+20+40 [Time Traveler] and [Experience-Hardened Shinobi(Kage)])**

 **Chakra Control: 2**

 **Charisma: 100 (-35 [Jinchūriki(Kyūbi)])  
**

 **Luck: 100 (max)**

 **Attack: 33**

 **Defense: 48**

 **Evasion: 24**

 **Critical: 33**

 **Chakra Usage: 200% (That's reeeeeeeeally bad)**

 **Money: 0 Ryo**

"Is this good or bad? I wouldn't know," Naruto asked.

 **Haruka : Well, most of the reason your stats are so high is because we're time-travelers (yes, I also traveled through time, like you and your friends) and because your body right now is synching to your new tenants, integrating them into your body so that they can help you despite being little more than sealed spiritual energy. You can thank me later for that, by the way. Despite all that, this body is still young, tiny, malnourished (no thanks to you), and weak in comparison to your mature body; those pluses you see are all because of skills that aren't even active most of the time, so forget about the pluses if you're talking about just you. And, to add insult to injury, you don't have _any_ money. So, no, that's not good, that's bad.**

"Dammit," he cursed.

 **Haruka : On the bright side, you have a lot of potential as a younger kid, plus you can get some pretty sweet skills. You have a lot of hidden potential as the player of a videogame, especially in this one. Go back to the previous menu.**

"Okay...uh, 'Back?'" Naruto asked-commanded.

 **Haruka : Yep.**

With that, the previous options came up, the stats going away.

 **Haruka : Lets see what traits you have.**

"Okay. 'Traits,'" he directed. The menu changed again, this time to a table; one column said "Skill" while another said "Description" and another titled "Effects" and a final one titled "Used..." Naruto gaped, commenting with, "Whoa, that's a lot..."

(Note: Since columns might not appear so well on here, I'll simply write what is under the section of this table that is being viewed.)

 **Back**

 **Passive Traits  
**

 **Trait: Uzumaki Lifeblood  
Description: The Uzumaki Clan mostly died out some time ago at the hands of Iwagakure, and their village was destroyed; why this happened, most people call fear of their strongest features. Amazing seal masters, a powerful Kekkei Genkai... and freakish vitality. Seriously, Uzumaki are so durable, they can crash through a lot of brick walls headfirst and only be missing _some_ of their brain cells and not the whole thing.  
Effects: +50 Max HP, +50 Max Chakra, +32 Endurance  
Used: Passively**

Naruto was about to comment on that last sentence in the description (because he was wondering if he could really do that).

 **Haruka : Don't even think about trying that. Besides, save that kind of endurance and energy for your enemies to deal with.**

Frowning, he kept reading.

 **Trait: Time Traveler  
Description: Most people call time travel impossible in basically all points in the history of intelligence. Well, to them, this skill says, "Shut up! You want proof? I'm your proof!" Technically speaking, this makes your body change faster to accommodate for all the changes inside your head, so it will grow faster to match your previous strength, senses, chakra levels, and all that. However, this requires time (naturally).  
Effects: +20% stat growth/Level Up, +35 Knowledge (unless you're completely clueless about what you lived through), +20 Perception  
Used: Passively**

 **Trait: Jinchūriki (Kyūbi)  
Description: Up to nine people in the big, big world have really chaotic lives because it was decided that they would be given a force of nature (and chakra... lots of chakra) and they would be tasked by life to control said force of nature (well, chakra) and with the condition that there is now a voice in their head. The Kyūbi, unfortunately, is the most powerful and cynical of these nine Tailed Beasts, so the Jinchūriki of this fox may not even have that voice in their head... or, maybe, a voice they don't want to listen to.  
Effects: +500 Max Chakra,** **-35 Charisma (caused by living in a village where people hate you; change this and the penalty goes away), causes "Lynching Target" relation with villagers of Konoha (until that's changed), causes "Annoying Little-" relation with Konoha ninja (again, only until that's changed)  
** **Used: Passively (upgradeable)**

"'Upgradeable'? What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

 **Haruka : Well, obviously, it means that you can make the trait better. **

"Yeah. I got that," Naruto deadpanned, "but how?"

 **Haruka : Well, right now, things are pretty bad between you and the Kyūbi that was already here. How do you _think_ you should improve it?**

"...Talk to him?"

 **Haruka : So you _do_ know...**

"What's that supposed to-?!"

 **Haruka : Just keep reading. You may have all day, but waiting that long does your body no favors.**

 **Trait: Jinchūriki (Kurama)  
Description: ****Up to nine people in the big, big world have really chaotic lives because it was decided that they would be given a force of nature (and chakra... lots of chakra) and they would be tasked by life to control said force of nature (well, chakra) and with the condition that there is now a voice in their head. However, thanks to a certain time traveler, there are now two Kyūbi no Kitsune in existence. The second one is already familiar with said time traveller and respects him quite a bit. As such he is more... lenient with lending his passive abilities and chakra, and he is not publicly known of.** **  
Effects: +500 Max Chakra,** **allows use of Dark Sensor active skill, allows use of Kurama Link Mode and Kurama Mode buffs, allows use of Tailed Beast Bomb and all other Bijū techniques  
** **Used: Passively (max)**

"I'm a double-Jinchūriki for the same Tailed Beast? How?" Naruto wondered, staring at the text.

 **Haruka : *sigh* Is it really that hard to notice? You brought back _your_ Nine Tails with you, and even the seal, while there was already a Nine Tailed Fox within young Naruto. You essentially put young Naruto in the backseat, and, likewise, your Kurama did the same with the Kyūbi of the past. I'm pretty sure you saw that in your little chat not five minutes ago.**

"Ah. That's cool! Two Kuramas!" Naruto laughed.

 **Haruka : Well, more like "one and a half," given that you have both halves of future Kurama and one half of past Kurama, but that works too.**

 **Trait: Tailed Beast Chakra Handler (nine)  
Description: The Tailed Beast Chakra Handler trait simply means there's Tailed Beast chakra present in the person (and they can use said chakra) with this skill. All Jinchūriki who have conversed with their Tailed Beast at least once possess this skill at the "one" level. However, not one person has ever possessed the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts before now; most people tend to believe that Bijū are nothing but monsters, so usually Jinchūriki are the only ones with this trait.  
Effects: Allows use of all the nature releases of the chakra of the Tailed Beasts  
Used: Passively (max)**

 **Trait: Experience-Hardened Shinobi (Kage)  
Description: This is not so much a skill as it is a fact of life: one who lives through battle finds battling easier than a greenhorn would. Obviously, this experience is not strictly bodily; the mind will learn through surviving battle. And this happens to be the highest level of this trait: Kage; restricted to those who wear the hats or people just as experienced.  
Effects: +34 Accuracy, +40 Perception  
Used: Passively (max)  
**

 **Trait: Taijutsu Novice 2  
Description: Skill at being a ninja is important in general, but most distinguished ninja tend to specialize in something. This just so happens to be Taijutsu. Strength, speed, and reflexes are the basic bread, butter, and... well, something else so the "reflexes" part isn't lonely. Little kids tend to be novices only because they're weaker than a certain overly-intense Taijutsu virtuoso who's an adult.  
Effects: +11 Strength, +11 Speed  
Used: Passively (upgradeable)**

"Only a _novice_?" Naruto asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I'd say I'm pretty good at Taijutsu-dattebayo!"

 **Haruka : No matter how good you may have been as a battle-hardened Kage, in a child's body you only know how to do it. Think of it as "starting over," but with a head start, since you don't have the same physical strength or muscle memory yet. You're only thirteen now.**

Naruto said nothing but kept reading.

 **Trait: Friends in Mindscape (Awareness)  
Description: This kind of came with that Hiraishin incident. All the time traveler's friends at his son's birthday party that happened to be connected to him physically were teleported to the past, essentially warping across the fabric of time-space (an act which takes an immense amount of chakra) to the closest anchor: Dead Last Uzumaki Naruto. During a good night's sleep, in which you recovered all of your lost chakra (see the Technical Game passive trait), you came to realize that these friends were all trapped inside your head. It seems this warrants further investigation...  
Effects: Allows use of Switch techniques  
Used: Passively (upgradeable)**

"Wait, what the...?"

 **Haruka : What, did you think otherwise? **

"No, but I don't quite get it. It says here that I need to investigate this thing further, but how do I do that? I don't think talking to my friends is gonna get them to help me," Naruto wondered, blinking a couple times.

 **Haruka : *sigh* Weren't you paying attention? Your body now allows your friends to use their unique abilities in your body. You also know that the technique is called "Switch" and that it relates to those friends of yours inside your head. They know too, since they're watching through your senses... Do you see where I'm going with this?**

"So, basically, I _should_ talk to them so I can use the technique without surprising them?" Naruto surmised.

 **Haruka : Well, you don't _have_ to _per se_ , but if you want-**

"Of course I do! Just because I have this trait doesn't mean their abilities are mine! At the very least, I should get their permission!" Naruto scolded.

 **Haruka : Do what you want.**

 **Trait: Technical Game  
Description: Technically, yes, now life is a game for you, Player. As such, some common themes present in video games are present in this one (see below).  
Effects: Gives Instant Regeneration buff when you sleep, gives ability to learn by touching (see Help for details), gives ability to eat food and restore health by touching food (no taste, though), allows use of Size Up active skill  
Used: Passively**

 **Trait: Like a Phoenix  
Description: In video games, losing all your HP tends to mean "Game Over." However, you are Uzumaki Naruto of the future; there have been a lot of times where you seem to have lost all your energy, only to come back into the fight, stronger than before and completely rejuvenated. This is basically that fact in trait form.  
Effects: Allows Complete Rejuvenation healing effect once in a battle (provided that you are still the same energetic Uzumaki Naruto) when HP drops to 0  
Used: Passively (once per battle)**

"Wow, that was a lot of information..." Naruto sighed, rubbing his head.

 **Haruka : I think it'll be easier for us to go into a battle so you can get a feel for all this stuff before you try it for real.**

"Wait, what about the other stuff?" Naruto asked, manually pressing the "Back" button

 **Haruka : That depends. The jutsu you know haven't changed, and I'll explain some of the other things later. For now, just unpause the world and get up out of bed.**

"Okay. 'Back.'" Naruto commanded. Nothing changed, though. The world was still green and white. "'Unpause?'" he dictated, a little less certainly, with no effect. "'Resume?'"

Then, as fast as it had all happened, the world returned to its original color and movement.

...which includes the water bucket that was hanging precariously over his head. The bucket itself stayed in place (save for a little swaying caused by the emptying water). However, the water splashed all over Naruto and his sheets.

"Haruka!" he growled loudly.

"Shut up, noisy kid! You're too loud!" came the shout from the upstairs neighbor.

"Sorry!" After that, Naruto phased into a more _sour_ expression. "Haruka..." he growled, much lower this time.

 **Haruka : Fufufufu... My my, why are you growling at me? It's not my fault you chose to stay in your bed to unpause your game.**

* * *

Well, that went well! ...Hopefully.

Anyway, I just had this idea, and I'll probably be going for this while also trying to come up with some ideas for my Bleach story "To Protect." I had a good break from writing (read: a bad time trying to get rid of writer's block), so I should come up with something good once I read it again (although I have been waiting for a new chapter of the Bleach manga). Ja ne-ttebayo!


	2. My First Victory! (Not Really)

Yo! Just thought I should mention that I made a small correction to the previous chapter. The game device hit Naruto on the arm, not the face. I thought face sounded better at the time, but I forgot that the game device was on his arm. Also, I forgot last chapter that, in a lot of video games, the name of the speaker is always in the text box, so I decided to make that a thing and have updated the past chapter to match it.

Before we start, I will answer reviews.

 _"Guest" wrote..._

 _"_ _So good keep it up love these stories. You don't know how long I've been looking for a story like this"_

Thank you for that. Honestly, I was looking for a good story with video game theme, but I couldn't find any, so I thought I'd try writing one myself! And it would be weird for the writer to be the first person to call his story good. Nonetheless, I will keep going as best I can.

 _"Wu Of Wei" wrote..._

 _"An extremely original concept, good writing style as well. The only thing I'm worried about is the amount of people in Naruto's head, it seems a bit overkill. It should have been two or three ar most. Also, the title is a bit of a mouthful. I'm looking forward to the next chapter."_

Thank you for praising my work. And I wouldn't worry about the number of people in his head; I wasn't planning on making them all talk to him at the same time or anything, and I am sticking with that number of people because I like overkill (but I will still make it manageable so people can follow along easily enough). And the title... I'll agree, I think so too, but I was tired that night. Oh well.

 _"Phildev" wrote..._

 _"Pretty good so far, I enjoyed this new-ish concept."_

Thanks. My favorite stories are time-travel stories, but I also like video-game stories, so I decided to try blending them.

Disclaimer: Naruto is too expensive for me, a penniless kid, to seriously own... so, no, I don't own it.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: "Wasn't he the 'Dead Last' yesterday?"**

* * *

Naruto sat down in his seat at the Academy. He had a _great_ time trying to get out of his wet pajamas without ripping them (he was still shivering a little) and he still had to figure out how to get his pajamas and bedding into a place where people couldn't do anything to them from the street through the closed windows (he had learned that lesson the hard way when he tried having curtains courtesy of the Hokage). And then, after that, he was already halfway to the Academy by the time he realized he hadn't eaten his morning instant ramen... and that he was right in front of his favorite restaurant. So, he decided he would eat only a little this time as opposed to every other time he had eaten there... even so, he got a little carried away and managed to eat two more bowls before Ayame stopped him by reminding him he had class to go to. And, to top it all off, he had a mental conversation with his "tenants," after one had surprised him so badly that he ran into a building on the road.

 _Flashback:_

 _Naruto was now running towards his class, seeing as he was already late. The unfortunate thing is that Ichiraku Ramen and the Academy were ten minutes apart, and that's when running the whole way (which no human being without training could accomplish casually). He had been running for five minutes. He was about to pass the barbecue restaurant, not even registering the aromas going through the air he was running through._

 _'_ Oi, Naruto! _'_

 _That sudden and familiar mental voice made him run_ into _the barbecue restaurant. Not "into" as in "through the door." "Into" as in "the wall." He bounced off the wall onto the road, falling face-down in the dirt. Slowly, he picked himself up off the ground and started walking to his destination, seeing as he was multitasking and trying to balance "responding to the voice" with "getting to class."_

 _'_ Shikamaru! Not so sudden next time! _' Naruto scolded._

 _'_ Actually, that was me! _' came a different voice, followed by giggling._

 _'_ Ino?! How did you do that? _'_

 _'_ She used the Transformation Jutsu to mimic my voice _,' the real Shikamaru explained, sighing._

 _'_ Yep! Though I had to use _your_ chakra, Naruto _,' Ino added._

 _'_ But, now that we have your attention, I have to ask you something _,' -Shikamaru again._

 _'_ Sure. What is it? _' Naruto asked, barely avoiding running into a person walking by._

 _'_ What are you going to do to hide being from the future? _'_

 _This question made Naruto pause (if only in surprise and not in thought). '_ Well, I wasn't planning on hiding it at all. Why? _' he asked, continuing with walking._

 _'_ Really? You're not going to act or anything? _' Sakura's voice asked in response._

 _'_ Not really. It's very hard to maintain a lie, and it gets harder the longer you try to keep it going. For example, there was that time my son cheated in the Chūnin exams, and I had to remove his headband in front of all the spectators. Besides, what's wrong with me telling anyone, even my team? It's not like I was gonna shout it from the rooftops or something (note: this is a reference to a song that I don't think a lot of people have heard called 'Rooftop' by Skylar Stecker). And acting is basically lying, right? _' Naruto explained._

 _'_ I guess... _' Shikamaru's voice answered him._

 _And now, back to the present..._

Of course, because he was late, he was the center of all the class staring at him, including the teacher.

"Naruto! You're late!" Iruka shouted from the (admittedly somewhat distant) front of the classroom.

"Oh, sorry, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called back before staying silent.

This raised Iruka's eyebrow. "Is there a reason?" he asked.

"Not really. I just forgot to eat breakfast, so I stopped at Ichiraku Ramen, but..." Naruto trailed off, gesturing that anyone could complete that sentence for him while adjusting his goggles on his forehead.

"...But you ate too much and now you're late. Honestly, Naruto, you're not going to get anywhere by being late all the time..." Iruka finished, sighing in between the sentences, that last bit earning a couple of 'ooh's from the class.

"Then I won't be late again," Naruto answered bluntly, effectively silencing the class. One could hear _air_ land on the ground with how silent it was (note: technically, I'm talking about carbon dioxide, which is heavy enough that it can fall. It's science! So, if you're really curious about it, you can look up a video about 'dousing a candle flame without blowing on it' or something. There's quite a few of those on Youtube).

Even Iruka was staring at him wide-eyed. Then, he opened his mouth, to say something about Naruto's... calmness, but then closed it in favor of "'not ruining the moment.'" Then, apparently, something crossed his mind (if the frown was anything to go by).

"Wait, where'd you get the money for that? I thought you were broke," Iruka asked accusingly. The air suddenly tensed up as everyone stared at him.

Naruto didn't panic, like anyone who would think he was lying thought he would. "Well, funny story, actually..." -the entire class groaned now- "...I saw someone's money fall out of their pocket when I was running to class, so I tried to hand back her money, but she wouldn't take it for some reason... She just slapped my hand away, saying she didn't want it back, even when I asked them why. Eventually, she just ran away from me without taking her money back, so I used the money to buy my ramen," he explained calmly.

' **Smooth, Naruto. Smooth** ,' Kurama remarked in his head.

'Hey! That's actually what happened-dattebayo!' Naruto defended himself while Iruka was speaking the next line.

Iruka's face immediately softened. "Oh," he mumbled. Clearing his throat, he continued with the class by saying, "Okay, then. Now, class, today we'll be practicing the Clone Jutsu. Everyone will have demonstrated by the end of class today."

The entire class groaned again, but Iruka still called up the first name.

"Haruno Sakura!"

Said girl came up to the front, smirking at Ino and glaring at Naruto (Inner Sakura: It's _his_ fault we have to do this again! Channaro! [note: I don't know why everyone hears 'Shannaro!' when I clearly hear 'Channaro!', and I _do_ watch the Japanese Dub, English Sub version]) She stood at the head of the class and stared at the teacher for the "quiz" instructions while everyone got in a line.

"Please make 3 clones," Iruka instructed once they were quiet.

"Okay." She put her hands together to form a hand seal while facing Iruka. "Clone Jutsu!" Immediately, there were three more Sakuras all facing the teacher with their hands behind their back and smiles on their faces.

"Good. Next..."

"Did you see me, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, turning to her infatuation.

And everyone's runs were basically the same. Here are a couple, for your reading pleasure.

Yamanaka Ino:

"Clone Jutsu!" 4 perfect copies of Ino all appeared alongside her, using her same confident smirk.

"Ino, I only asked for three clones..." Iruka reminded her, guessing in his head what her answer probably was.

"I know, but I _did_ make 3 clones, didn't I?" Ino's confidence never left her face as she pointed her confident gaze at Sakura, making a vein pop out of Inner Sakura's head from her spot at the end of the line.

Inuzuka Kiba (and Akamaru):

"Clone Jutsu!" Three copies of Kiba stood there, facing the teacher and smirking.

"Kiba, you forgot a couple things in your clone," Iruka informed him.

"Hm?" said boy asked.

"For one, your jacket," Iruka said, pointing to one of the clones, who was only wearing Kiba's mesh shirt up top (don't worry, the pants were still there), "and, two, you have to clone Akamaru too."

"Oh, I can fix that," Kiba stated, the original (the only one wearing a jacket and with Akamaru resting on his hair) forming the hand sign again. _Now_ the clones each had jackets and Akamaru on their heads.

"Better." Iruka stated, writing on his clipboard.

-and now, back to our regular format for the best one of them all-

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka called the last name on the list. The boy strolled up to the front, facing the teacher.

"Prepare to be amazed, Iruka-sensei! Dattebayo!" Naruto announced, forming the horizontal part of the cross with two fingers on his left hand.

Iruka quirked an eyebrow when he noticed this. ' _That's not a hand sign we taught them..._ ' he noted for a moment before widening his eyes in surprise.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Instead of a poof of smoke like the Clone Jutsu performed by the other students, these Shadow Clones appeared to blur into existence from the original, and there were five of them. All of them, of course, looked like the original, and all of them smirked.

" **How's _this_ , Iruka-sensei?**" they chorused.

Iruka put down his clipboard and pen, never taking his eyes of the spectacle. There were five perfect copies of Naruto standing next to him and smiling. Iruka walked over to the clone next to the original and poked it on the forehead, causing the clone to stumble backwards. He wasn't paying attention, though, because he noticed two things: first, his finger had not passed through the clone like he expected of a regular clone, and second, the clone had actually muttered a sharp and quick "Ow." Iruka quickly put two and two together.

"Naruto, you learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu?" Iruka asked, smiling in pride and tone full of astonishment.

This caused confused murmurs from everyone, including the question from Sakura that was clearly addressed to Iruka: "Sensei, what's the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

Iruka turned his attention to the class. "Oh, right, you guys probably don't know about it because you're not even Genin yet. The Shadow Clone Jutsu is a jutsu where the user makes a number of regular clones and then distributes their chakra evenly across all the clones and themselves. It's a difficult jutsu that Genin aren't expected to know," he explained, turning his attention to the Genin in front of him at that last bit.

Naruto could only hear the class's amazed "EEEEEEEEHH? And the Dead Last knows how to do it?!" while smiling.

While they were busy with the rest of their unintelligible uproar, Iruka lowered himself onto his knee so he could ask, "Naruto, how did you learn this jutsu?"

Naruto stopped smiling to the class, looked back at Iruka, and answered, "Oh, the ninja with the masks used it to try and track me down the last time I pulled a prank."

"And you learned just from that?" Iruka asked.

"Well, I practiced it too-ttebayo. I can make at least 2,000 now," Naruto returned to smiling.

"TWO THOUSAND?" Iruka shouted in surprise, effectively silencing the class again (for a grand total of two seconds before another uproar started with another "EEEEEEHHH?!") and making Naruto cover his ears.

Iruka didn't even bother to try and calm them down, merely getting back on his knee to ask another question. "How much did you practice with them?" he asked.

"My Shadow Clones? Oh, quite a bit. I even made a new Jutsu!" Naruto smiled.

For the third time, a wave of silence washed over the students; however, before they could start another uproar, Iruka instructed him, "A new jutsu? Why don't you demonstrate this new jutsu to the class?"

"Okay, if you say so!" Naruto acknowledged the instructions, making more shadow clones with a mischievous grin on his face. Iruka sweat-dropped at this grin.

' _Why do I get the feeling that I just asked him to do the wrong thing?_ ' Iruka asked rhetorically in his mind.

"Harem Jutsu!" Naruto called out before all of the fifteen or so clones transformed into... yes, nude girls/women. However, they were not all the same blonde girl with ponytails and no clothes. In fact, they were all clothed... just in revealing outfits of various colors and modesty (or lack thereof), while the clones themselves varied in physical appearance (I will not describe each and every clone in detail, but just use your imagination...). They all moaned sultrily and smiled at Iruka while posing in various suggestive poses (again, use your imagination...).

Of course, this garnered various reactions from the class, Iruka included. The teacher gushed a red rocket before covering his nose, then ran out of the classroom (presumably to the bathroom), screaming "NARUTOOOOOO!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes in incredulity at Naruto; Shikamaru had his head down, mumbling, "Troublesome Naruto;" Hinata's face... didn't change that much, actually (inside, however, she was chuckling at her crush's antics); and Ino and Sakura shouted together, "NARUTO, YOU PERVERTED MORON!" then proceeded to glare at each other competitively. The rest of the boys, however, merely laughed at the class clown (read: _at_ , not _with_ ) as he laughed at Iruka, who had just come back, with tissues stuffed in his nose. Most of the boys had a small trickle of blood on their face. Meanwhile, the girls only glared at Naruto.

His smile only grew when he heard Kurama say, ' **Jeez, Naruto. You're still that perverted even now?** '

The class quieted down as Iruka glared at Naruto. "Naruto, did you really waste all your free time making _that_?" he asked scoldingly.

"Nope. It all came to me in one second," Naruto admitted.

"Okay, fine, but do you honestly think this has any application in battle? And do you really think that naked girls are going to blend into a crowd of fully clothed citizens?" Iruka asked again, now calmer in tone.

"Of course! One time, I used it to get away from a group of angry villagers by pretending to be a black-haired girl and telling them I went somewhere else," Naruto shared, making the class stare at him. "And this jutsu is a perfect weapon in battle! It makes an awesome distraction!" he added, smiling through the worse glares he was getting from the girls.

"But what if your opponent is a girl?" Iruka asked, expecting to throw Naruto off guard.

"Then I just use the _Reverse_ Harem Jutsu! Jeez, Iruka-sensei..." Naruto answered bluntly, causing an awkward silence.

"Why do you—you know what, I don't want to know. We're going to go discuss this with Lord Hokage later." Iruka switched subjects and ordered Naruto to follow everyone out to the field for a taijutsu spar.

* * *

"Come in."

Time had passed by incredibly fast for Naruto. It felt like, one second ago, he was laughing at Iruka-sensei for being perverted in front of the class...

Now, he was walking into the Hokage's office, smiling like an idiot, followed by a completely serious Iruka closing the door behind him.

"Ah, Iruka, Naruto. You asked to meet me, Iruka?" the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, asked.

"Yeah, I did, Hokage-sama. I needed some advice since I'm not quite sure how to handle this..." Iruka started hesitantly, but trailed off at the end there.

"Advice? About what?" the old Hokage asked.

Before Iruka could continue, Naruto interrupted him. "I'm pretty sure it's about me using Shadow Clones in class," he noted.

This made the old Sarutobi raise an eyebrow. "Shadow Clones? Where did you learn such a difficult jutsu?" he asked.

"I read the Scroll of Sealing," Naruto answered bluntly.

This made _both_ of the men's eyes widen.

Before the old man could respond to that, Iruka jumped in, "Oi, Naruto, that's not what you told me earlier!" he stared accusingly.

"Well, if I told you the truth earlier, it might have started a panic, Iruka-sensei. Most of the adults of this village don't like me because they're afraid Kurama's going to come out and hurt them or their loved ones again. Their children, on the other hand, only find me annoying because their parents don't like me. If their parents heard about me through someone who thought I stole one of the most important village treasures, they would definitely freak out-ttebayo," Naruto calmly explained.

"...Naruto, you are very calm and thoughtful about this. Is something... different?" the old man asked before Iruka could come up with words to say to Naruto's answer (though he was having a hard enough task of that as it was).

"Well, I need to tell you something, but I would like it to just stay between us, so could you activate Privacy Seal B? I can't activate it myself right now, so..." Naruto asked.

This nearly made the old man fall over. Luckily, he opted to, instead, activate said privacy seal. He tapped the seal hidden under his desk, causing it to glow (though not even the Hokage could see that from his positioning). A purple, transparent (yet distorted) wall appeared 1 yard away from the desk on all sides. He should have been the only one to know (besides his Anbu) that this particular Privacy Seal blocks sound and not light, and yet it would appear that Konoha's resident Prank King knew about it...

After the walls appeared, Iruka shrugged and said, "Well, this sounds like an important secret, so I'll just watch from outside."

Naruto gave him a confused look. "Iruka-sensei, where are you going-ttebayo? You should hear this too," he told him, making Iruka stop walking as he stared at Naruto in surprise.

"O-Okay," he stammered, unsure of what to say.

"So, what is it you need to tell us?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well... I'm from the future, actually. I'm an adult in a kid's body."

This information caused little more than a skeptical reaction from the old man and Iruka. The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that? Are you telling me you have traveled through time?"

Instead of the same goofy smile he would have expected of Naruto when he was pulling a prank, Naruto kept a straight face. He clearly wasn't messing around with that odd bit of information.

Iruka, however, wasn't entirely convinced. "O-Oi, Naruto, what are you saying? That can't be true!"

"No, Iruka, that makes some sense."

Iruka turned to the Hokage and stared at him in shock. "I-It does? Hokage-sama, pardon me, but I don't understand."

"Iruka, do you remember what Naruto said from two days ago when he had pulled another prank on Yamanaka Ino and her family's flower shop? 'I don't understand why the villagers looked at me like they hate me. Did I do something wrong?' Now, if you compare that to what he just said, you will likely see what I am seeing. Anyway, tell me, Naruto; does that black object on your arm have something to do with it?" the Hokage asked him, gesturing to his game-device.

"Well, kinda, yeah," Naruto looked down at it.

In response, the screen glowed, causing the Hokage and Iruka to start a little. "Naruto, what's going on? Why is it glowing?" Iruka asked.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I think Haruka-neechan has something to do with it," Naruto answered, staring at it confused.

Suddenly, the glow on his game-watch-thing projected the visage of a person into the air next to Naruto. The image was of a woman with blonde ponytails and the orange outfit Naruto always wore. The woman had the same whisker marks that Naruto had, and the same blue eyes. Naruto started a little when he recognized the voice that went with the waving.

 **Haruka : Yo.**

"Haruka-neechan? I didn't know you could do that-ttebayo!"

 **Haruka : That's because this is the first time I'm doing this, and it's a great way to explain to Hokage-sama and Iruka-san about us.**

"N-Naruto, what's going on?! Who is this?" Iruka asked. He was pretty freaked out, if his body language of "getting into a fighting stance" was any indication.

 **Haruka : I am Haruka, Naruto's assistant. I am from the future as well, in a sense. **

Hiruzen took a moment to walk over to Haruka and pass a hand through her arm. Withdrawing his hand and putting it on his chin, he expressed his attention by muttering, "Interesting." He then looked at Naruto. "She's a clone. But where's the original?" he asked, looking around.

 **Haruka : Nope. I'm a hologram, not a clone. The difference is that I have a device projecting me as opposed to a person (and besides, my appearance is based off of Naruto's original Sexy Jutsu).**

"'A device'?" After saying that, Iruka looked at Naruto's wrist, specifically at the band on his arm that was indeed, without a doubt, linked to the appearance of this "Haruka," who was very realistic, the only indication of her identity being the light that was clearly visible between the device and Haruka. "Naruto, this is extremely advanced technology!" he gawked.

"I know. I think that we only have TV screens right now?" He turned his head to the Hokage for confirmation (which he provided with a nod), then he turned to Haruka to ask, "Now that I think about it, we didn't have... what did you call yourself again?"

 **Haruka : Holograms. And of course not. I was originally a mere video game system until that messy Hiraishin merged me with your arm.**

"The Hiraishin?" the Hokage asked out of astonishment.

"Yeah. I accidentally used it back at my son's birthday party, and now most of my friends are trapped in my head and I have this device on my arm. I was trying to make a one-time-use tag version of the Hiraishin 'cuz I was learning fūinjutsu and my dad was always using it, but I ended up using my first one at the party on accident when my son threw his present at me for... some reason. I guess I really botched the first attempt if it ended up taking me back in time to my childhood instead of teleport me like I originally aimed for," Naruto explained. Throughout the explanation, the Hokage's face stopped becoming more amazed, seeing as he finally calmed down enough to rein in his emotions enough to keep up a poker face. After the explanation was done, he looked at the arm the device was on. Not the device, but the arm itself.

"Is that... device suffocating his arm? It looks a little pale..." he commented.

 **Haruka : Actually, that was not my doing. I know a little of his past from his memories, but I think Naruto can explain that.**

Naruto explained, "Yep. I fought my best friend for the last time and the last jutsu we used blew part of our arms off, so this," he said, pointing to the pale skin on his arm, "is a prosthetic."

"What?! You got your arm blown off?!" Iruka shouted. It was obvious he was shouting out of concern were you to hear his voice.

 **Haruka : You should've seen the other guy.**

Now Naruto looked to Haruka. "But Sasuke was just as beat-up as me, right? He also got his arm blown off," he noted.

 **Haruka : Yeah, but he's the one who admitted he lost, remember?**

"Well, if you want to think of it like that, knock yourself out," Naruto sighed. He then looked back to the Third and continued explaining. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, after the war—"

"War?!" Iruka was no longer freaking out, but watched Naruto warily (after all, those who lived through a war weren't usually exactly the same as before, and he just found out that, suddenly, the boy he knew as a prankster was now a grown man who had survived a war), while the Third managed to hold on to his level head.

"Yeah, against the Akatsuki. Don't worry, the other nations helped too," Naruto answered calmly.

"Akatsuki, huh? They're a shady group, but they don't draw much attention right now... and you say they waged a war?" the Hokage asked.

"Yeah. Anyway, after the war, I became the Seventh Hokage and had a daughter and a son with my wife, Hinata-chan. But, being the Hokage in the Shinobi Union, I had to work _super_ hard, so I didn't have as much time for my family as I would've liked. But, I was proud of my son, who had trained so hard, so we threw him a birthday party, Hinata-chan and I. But... I guess, during the party, he got mad at me or something, because he threw this at me and shoved me into all my friends. I am glad it didn't hit my face when that happened, but either way, when I woke up in my bed this morning, I was a little boy with a weird black thing on his wrist." Naruto stopped talking to let them soak in all that information for a minute.

"'Shinobi Union'? Does that mean—?" Iruka started asking.

"Yep. The Fourth Shinobi World War ended up making us form a Ninja Alliance until after the war, when it became the Shinobi Union. Luckily, during the war, me and my best friend could handle Madara; and me and my Genin team could handle Kaguya," Naruto interrupted, smiling.

"Did you say 'Madara'? Are you... no, you can't be... are you talking about the famous _Uchiha_ Madara? He's alive?" Iruka asked, eyes widening in fear.

"No, he was brought back from the dead," Naruto was calm about this, that's for sure.

"And who is this 'Kaguya'?" the Third Hokage asked.

"The Sage of Six Paths' mother, and she was apparently the first ninja...?" Naruto answered, apparently unsure of that last part. "I'm not too sure, I couldn't think much while she was trying to kill me."

"And when did this happen? How old were you?" Iruka asked, tensing up for the answer.

"When what happened? The Kaguya thing? I had just turned seventeen when it ended, I think..." Naruto told him.

Iruka no longer had words to describe his feelings. On one hand, seeing as he truly cared for Naruto's well-being, so all these near-death experiences (or, at least, that's what he gathered that they were) scared him; on the other hand, the fact that Naruto was so much stronger with only five years from now... That made him proud. Plus, if he was a Hokage, that explained the whole "suddenly mature and not a loudmouth" thing, so that was a bit of a relief that Naruto hadn't changed so much that he was an entirely different person (and a bonus: no more chasing around an immature and naive Naruto for defacing the Hokage Monument or some other prank).

"So, Naruto, back to our original topic... Did you learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu when you became Hokage?" the Third asked.

Naruto gasped (seeing as he just remembered...) "Oh, right, speaking of that, when was the Academy graduation exam, Iruka-sensei? Old Man?" he asked, suddenly changing his tone.

"Huh? Oh, it's tomorrow. Why? What does that have to do with it?" Iruka informed him dismissively.

"Well... last time, I failed the graduation exam because, to be honest, I stunk at making regular clones and I still kinda suck at it now. It doesn't help that I... have more chakra now. So Mizuki from the Academy came up to me, while I was disappointed that I didn't graduate, and told me that I could graduate if I demonstrated skill with a technique from the Scroll of Sealing. So basically, I stole the Scroll of Sealing and learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu without ever figuring out that he was using me to steal it from Konoha until he hurt Iruka-sensei." Naruto explained.

Iruka's eyes went wide. "W-What? As in the _teacher_ Mizuki? He would never do that!" he protested.

"Iruka-sensei... I fought him twice. Once was when he betrayed Konoha and I beat him up, the second time was when he broke out of prison and I beat him up again. Both times, he kept referring to me as the 'Demon Fox,' despite the fact that Kurama, the quote-unquote (he actually said that) 'Demon Fox' he was talking about, was _inside_ me, not me myself. The first time, I almost believed it, but I never believed him the second time. Either way, I know he had a personal problem with you from what he told me the second time. He was jealous that you got more and better attention than him, and he thought he was better than you. He wants to betray Konoha. And I'm fairly sure he's going to use me to do it. He hates me," Naruto explained calmly.

"But, wait, Naruto... are you sure it's going to happen the same way as last time?" Iruka asked him, trying to hold onto the belief that Mizuki was his friend.

"Nope."

"Huh?" That confused Iruka.

"Well, I don't know that it will happen the _exact_ same way as before, but I do know that the same thing as before will happen because I know what kind of person he is. He holds no space in his scarred heart for comrades or the village. Mizuki will betray Konoha eventually, even if he doesn't do it now," Naruto answered.

This effectively silenced Iruka. The Hokage, however, spoke. "So, even if we know what will happen with him, what should be done about it?" he asked.

"Why not just let it happen? I mean, I'll agree to take the scroll for him, but I won't give it to him. Besides, I beat him before, and that was when I was the Dead Last; I'll kick his teeth in for sure this time!" Naruto suggested.

"Are you sure we can't just try and convince him to... not betray the village or something?" Iruka asked trepidatiously.

"Yep. I'm sure!" Naruto nodded, confidently despite the fact that he wasn't smiling.

"How did you beat him the first time before?" the Hokage asked, mostly to change the subject.

Naruto grinned a cocky grin, his eyes taking on a prideful shine. "Shadow Clones. Hundreds and hundreds of them."

"What? You could make so many after learning it for one night?!" Iruka was understandably awed... after all, Naruto was the Dead Last not 1 day ago, with basically only an aptitude for pranking.

"Yep." Naruto could not remove that happy grin from his face.

 **Haruka : By the way, I need to do something now that you have seen me.**

"Really? What is it, Haruka-san?" the Hokage asked, tensing up a little and preparing to dodge some sort of surprise attack.

 **Haruka : I need to mark you.**

The seriousness in her voice did not go unnoticed, _per se_... it's just that the suggestive meaning behind those words gave them each a little nosebleed. Seeing this, Naruto and Haruka both shook their heads and sighed, though it was Haruka who spoke.

 **Haruka : *sigh* You perverts. I _meant_ that I was going to mark you with my special Hiraishin mark. It's helpful for me to be able to keep track of how many people know of this little secret, and I'm out here now anyway, so I may as well. Besides, if you decide to join the Circle, then all the better for it.**

"...Oh," Iruka mumbled, embarrassed, reaching out his arm so she could put the mark under his sleeve.

"Why do you need to 'keep track of us'?" the Hokage asked.

 **Haruka : So we can help you when you need it.**

"Ah. Did something happen to me in your future?" the Hokage asked, as Haruka was putting a mark under his right wrist as well.

Naruto hesitated for a second. "...Well, you _did_ get killed in a battle with someone you know," Naruto admitted.

"Oh. Was it Danzō?" the Hokage guessed.

"...Uh, who's that?" Naruto asked blankly.

"Oh, he's one of my council members. He tends to be quite the cynical fellow, and I know him and I have disagreed before..." The Hokage trailed off, but shrugged.

"No. But I'd rather not talk about it. It was a very painful day for Konoha," Naruto answered.

"Fair enough," the Hokage admitted.

Haruka, who was still present as a hologram, cleared her throat to get their attention.

 **Haruka : Okay, now that that conversation is over, there's still one thing Naruto forgot to mention about all of this.**

"Hmm?" Naruto grunted, scrunching his nose. Then he gasped, realizing what she was talking about. "Oh yeeeeeaaaah! Because of this thing—"

 **Haruka : "Game Control."**

"Huh? What'd you say, Haruka-neechan?" Naruto asked her.

 **Haruka : Please call that the "Game Control." **

"Why?" Iruka asked, quirking an eyebrow.

 **Haruka : Because _he_ wasn't giving my outer layer a name.**

"True, true... however, why did you decide to call it the 'Game Control'?" the Hokage asked.

 **Haruka : Because, when I came back in time with him, the impact from hitting his arm gave me a little energy to fuse with Naruto, to the point that I was connecting his Chakra Network back together again in his sleep. Then I took a little of his chakra and now I'm sentient. Even so, I still retain some of the properties of my original function. Hence, the (in my opinion) fitting name.**

"Wait, you weren't sentient before that happened? Why?" Iruka asked.

 **Haruka : That's because I was an inanimate object with no will of its own. Even now, with this hologram, I'm only using his chakra to make an image of what I saw in his memories (only with clothes on). He may not be able to make an image of himself, but I can control his chakra and do that for myself. I seem to have gained a personality by absorbing a little of his chakra; thus, I am sentient.**

"Ah. That's fine, then. Please continue, Naruto-kun," the Hokage requested.

"Right. Anyway, because of the Game Control on my arm, I'm living in a video game now," Naruto summarized.

"Oh, that sounds... Wait, what's a video game?" Iruka wondered.

 **Haruka : Have you heard of such a thing as a computer? I'm fairly sure there are some around somewhere even in this time.**

"I believe they use computers in the Forest of Death to monitor the people going into the central tower during the Chūnin Exams and in a couple other areas of the village," the Hokage noted.

 **Haruka : Good, so you _are_ familiar with them. Well, basically, computers evolved over time from being merely tools to also being many other things including a form of entertainment: video games. This took quite a while, from what I understand, but, eventually, they evolved computers enough that games could be played on a small device, small enough that one could play by holding the device in their hands. **

"Oh, so video games are basically the games that these amazing computers can play using screens," Iruka summarized.

 **Haruka : Actually, technically, the computers only display the game using screens; a person has to use the computer to play the game. People just made that easier with time.**

"Fascinating. So, what does 'living in a video game' entail?" the Hokage asked.

 **Haruka : Technically, it's not so much that he's "living in a video game," but that he has new abilities that are usually only found in video games. Some of them are technicalities, like recovering all his HP and chakra by sleeping, while some of them are more like advantages, like the Training Mission.**

"But I can't do a Training Mission until I'm a Genin-ttebayo," Naruto added.

 **Haruka : Right. And another thing I didn't teach him was how to invite people to his Inner Circle. And, Naruto, before you ask, the Inner Circle is just what I called the hopefully small circle of people who know about this whole "video game powers" thing. It was a part of the "Relations" menu, in case you were wondering, which we didn't get to this morning.**

"Why didn't you teach me that?" Naruto asked.

 **Haruka : Because you had to get to school and it wouldn't be good if you were unfocused because of that. Besides, nobody can digest such a huge amount of foreign information in such a short time... least of all you.**

"What did you just say-ttebayo?!" Naruto was basically shouting.

 **Haruka : Nothing. Anyway, Naruto, you can only invite people into the Inner Circle if you have marked them with that special Hiraishin seal. I'll teach you how to do that later when you get your Genin team, but, for now, to invite a person, just say "Invite..." and then their name. Remember, you have to use both their family name and their given name.**

"Okay...'Invite... Sarutobi Hiruzen,'" Naruto commanded. Instantly, the mark under the Hokage's arm (well, it was on the underside of his wrist, but still...) glowed a nice blue. The mark itself was basically a pixellated version of the Uzumaki swirl (Haruka must not have been very creative); what would have been the swirling line was instead a series of pixels set to closely resemble the swirl of the Uzumaki while what would have been the red portion was seemingly substituted with the color of the skin behind the mark. A light projected forward to display a box in front of him. Yes, the box was blue; yes, it had two buttons labelled "Yes" and "No;" and yes, the Hokage tapped on the "Yes" button. Naruto repeated the process for Iruka, who also hit the "Yes" button (of course; it wouldn't do to alienate himself from his favorite student, after all).

After all that, Iruka escorted Naruto out of the Hokage office while the Hokage himself deactivated that privacy seal with a smile on his face.

He was smiling because he realized that the boy he had been watching over since infancy turned out to be an amazing person in the future, even if it was a little too soon to be calling him a man. He may have become a Kage (of a "Shinobi Union," too), but he was still the same Naruto.

* * *

 **Mission: Regular Clones Are For Kids!**

 **Objective: Defeat Mizuki.**

 **Bonus Objective: Learn a new jutsu from the Scroll of Sealing.**

 **Rewards: +50 Exp, Increased Reputation, 50 Ryo (Bonus: +20 Exp, Increased Affinity with Iruka and Hiruzen)**

 **Failure: +10 Exp, Decreased Reputation**

 **Mandatory**

Naruto was sitting at his seat, waiting to be called on, when this box randomly appeared on his desk. It startled the crap out of him, so he started (as in, when you're surprised, you _start_ ). This behavior did not go unnoticed by his neighbor, Sakura, but she simply stayed quiet and kept looking at a certain someone, opting to ignore the one who always annoyed her. Basically everyone else was doing something other than paying attention to Naruto, especially those that were nervous.

Of course, Hinata noticed, but she was too far away to do much more than watch.

'What the...?' Naruto wondered, watching it disappear.

' _I don't think anyone saw that. Nobody's looking at you right now_ ,' Shikamaru noted from in his head.

 **Haruka** **: That's right. Only those within the Inner Circle can see them, but Iruka-san is busy and the Hokage isn't here. That was a mission. Not a ninja mission, but a player mission. There's a difference. These missions give you money, experience points, and sometimes items or other rewards, and they're game-related.**

' _But... doesn't he have to fail the Graduation Exam on purpose to get Mizuki to fall for it?_ ' Ino asked in their head.

 **Haruka** **: That's a given, so that is the first objective.**

So Naruto took the Graduation Exam and bombed it (intentionally, just as planned). By what was probably a stroke of luck, Mizuki was once again proctoring the exam alongside Iruka. Naruto wasn't so sure as to why, but he knew that, regardless of why Mizuki was still proctoring the Exam this time (because it _was_ random chance to decide who did the proctoring... right?), this was the perfect chance for Mizuki to "influence" Naruto to "steal" the Scroll of Sealing—despite the fact that Naruto was completely aware of Mizuki's intentions and because Naruto knew that the Hokage (and Iruka) knew that he was going to take it and were probably going to play along. Right now, Naruto was swinging slowly (and in the wrong direction; one does not simply swing _sideways_ on a swing), staring out at the mass of kids being congratulated/consoled by their relatives, which Naruto knew he did not have.

Despite knowing all about it, to experience it again... actually hurt. Guess he still wasn't immune to pain from loneliness...

Of course, he had _someone_ there looking out for him... it just happened to be Iruka and the Hokage, watching him to see if Mizuki would move in.

Sure enough, the blue-ish-haired Chūnin walked up to him, smiling kindly (all an act, mind you, but still convincing). Naruto immediately remembered to act happy, so he smiled and perked his voice up in (mock) happiness. "Mizuki-sensei!"

 _ **Some hours later...**_

Iruka was lying down in his bed. He was technically waiting for Mizuki to show up at his door and tell him that Naruto stole the Scroll of Sealing.

Well, yes, he was _waiting_ , but he was also thinking. Hearing how much Naruto had been through, now being grown up, he realized that Naruto had been suffering. He had seen Naruto, this grown-up in the body of a child, swinging on the swing, alone and suffering for it. He could remember that Naruto grew up without a father figure or a mother figure, so he was lonely, like Iruka himself. This made him see Naruto in a better light (and he didn't even need to hear it from the Hokage, which gave him little in the way of pride at figuring it out himself).

Even so, he still had his doubts that Mizuki was really as bad as Naruto made him seem. He didn't believe that Naruto was a _liar_ of all things, but... was Mizuki really hiding all that resentment for the village? All that jealousy for Iruka himself? All that hatred for Naruto?

Iruka heard a knocking and a worried "Iruka, come quick! It's an emergency!" and shook his head to compose himself before answering the door (as quick as possible, mind you; he had to pretend that it was actually an emergency and not a secret plan to stop him from succeeding in betraying the village.).

Iruka opened the door. "Mizuki? What's wrong?" he asked, laying on the confusion.

"It's Naruto! He's stolen the Scroll of Seals!"

 **Meanwhile, with Naruto...**

"Okay, I have it, and I'm in that spot... now what?" he asked the empty forest (okay, technically not empty; just devoid of human life).

 **Haruka** **: I know this is your first mission, so I'm going to just let it slide for now, but why don't you just learn something you didn't know before? You know the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Hiraishin, so why don't you learn something new? I advise you do, Naruto; I can see that you have doubts, so think of it as "getting stronger." If you learn something new, you can protect your friends a little better.**

"But... why? Power without purpose becomes hatred... and you're suggesting that I learn a jutsu as dangerous as a kinjutsu... for no good reason? Why do I need to get stronger? There's no threat I can't handle with my friends by me," Naruto asked, pausing to see if he could understand what she was talking about (it didn't work).

 **Haruka** **: Naruto, just because you come from the future doesn't mean everything is going to happen the same way.**

"Huh?" Naruto grunted.

 **Haruka** **: The nature of this world of people is to evolve, to change. People learn to grow over time, to use the world to their advantage, and other things. That change is not the same every time; if it were, people would kill each other and themselves before doing anything worth doing. People would become too easy to predict. You cannot stop moving forward and stagnate; I will not allow you to become that predictable when being unpredictable is one of your best qualities. The world never let you just stand still without advancing; why stop now?**

"Hmm, I guess you're right, Haruka-neechan. Thanks. ...Wait a moment, I have a better idea!"

 _ **Hours later: around 5 in the morning...**_

Naruto was panting, shaking on his legs, a line of tree debris in front of him and a few other craters around him. He was smiling. 'I got it!' he smiled.

Then he heard footfalls behind him and turned around to face Mizuki, who was on the branch of a tree behind him and next to the wooden house in the area, smiling menacingly.

"I see you followed my instructions, Naruto!" he smiled. He reached his hand down. "Now, hand over the Scroll of Sealing.

Naruto just glared up at him. "No."

Mizuki smirked. "'No?' Well, then, looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way. I wanted to make this easy—"

"Listen, Mizuki-teme, I came here to stop you from betraying Konoha. I will never hand this scroll over to you for as long as I hold it," Naruto stated calmly, never once displaying emotion aside from wariness of Mizuki.

"'Mizuki-teme?' I see how it is," Naruto didn't respond to that (since he saw Mizuki's flash of surprise), so he continued, "So, who told you? Tsubaki?"

"Nobody told me. You had that look in your eyes. I could see that you were suffering," Naruto answered.

Mizuki was surprised at these words for a second, but that surprise quickly turned to anger. He glared down at Naruto. "Me? Suffering? Hah, that's rich, coming from you," he sneered.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, sighing in annoyance.

"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know, would you? Well, I suppose I'll tell you since you're going to die. In Konoha, there's a law that every single person in the village knows of... except you! And it says that nobody is allowed to mention to you... that you are the Demon Fox!" Mizuki explained condescendingly, pausing after that dialogue to let it sink in.

"Oh, is that all? Well, Mizuki, you're wrong, and so are the rest of the villagers that think that," Naruto calmly rebutted. Seeing that he had taken Mizuki off guard, he continued, "You and most of the villagers lost someone or something precious in the attack twelve years ago, and it made most people angry at the Nine-Tailed Fox that had attacked the village. If I wasn't there, they may have kept that hatred bottled up within them, using it for something else, which isn't good at all. Mizuki, you kept your hatred bottled up inside you anyway, never once expressing it to me, all as part of your act. See, the rest of the villagers, they took their hatred out on me because I was the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and their anger made them see a demon-fox instead of a boy. Sure, my childhood sucked because of that, but I'm glad that it was that instead of the alternative. If that many people held in their anger... that would be disastrous for everyone, especially the children they were raising. You, however, always tried to look like a friendly sensei in front of me and everyone else. You hate the village for ignoring you and not ignoring Iruka-sensei. You hated Iruka-sensei for getting more attention than you, even though you also lost someone during the attack. You hate me because you think it's all my fault. That is something I can forgive. However, it's up to you; are you going to give up? Or are you going to make me kick your ass?"

Mizuki was glaring daggers at him now. He did nothing but let his anger boil while he replayed those lines in his mind for a few seconds.

Finally, he snapped.

Reaching slowly to take into his hand one of the giant shuriken on his back, Mizuki growled in response, "Don't... talk... like you know me, you evil fox! 'I can forgive you for hating me,' you said. What a load of bullshit!" With a final shout, he threw the shuriken at Naruto, moving at surprising speeds for an object that large. Naruto quickly jumped to the side. As Mizuki took out the second shuriken on his back, he continued, "And don't you dare talk like you actually _can_ kick my ass. You're just a kid. You can't do that! It's not in your power!"

Naruto tensed up, ready to move again. Then Mizuki threw the second shuriken with the same result as before. Naruto was still calm and alert while Mizuki was practically rabid. Noting this, Naruto decided to take advantage of it.

"You know, Mizuki, this is kinda sad. I haven't touched you and you're already losing," he taunted. With Naruto holding up his hand so that his palm faced Mizuki, Mizuki watched as one head-sized blue orb swirled into existence on his palm while another one of equal size formed in front of that one. Mizuki was tensed up, watching as the boy prepared his jutsu. "...But it's over now," Naruto finished. The Giant Rasengan in his hand suddenly became a short beam of chakra moving faster than a thrown kunai, pushing the other one along with it, towards Mizuki, who could only flinch at the surprising speed until it all collided with him in the gut, sending him flying.

Naruto, in the meantime, shouted the name of his new technique. "Rasenganhō!" (note: 'hō' means 'cannon')

Before Mizuki could fly much farther, he hit something hard head-first, which he didn't notice (until he fell to the ground before blacking out twenty seconds later) were two knees of two Shadow Clones (one knee each). The clones disappeared in a puff of smoke before he hit the ground and lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Iruka landed next to him. Naruto noticed the teacher and looked at him, asking, "Oh, Iruka-sensei. Hey, do you think I went too hard on him?"

Iruka sighed forlornly while looking down at Mizuki, then turned to smile at Naruto. "No, you did what you had to, Naruto. Good job."

 **Mandatory Mission Completed!**

 **Objective: Defeat Mizuki (COMPLETED!)**

 **Bonus Objective: Learn a new jutsu from the Scroll of Sealing (Not Completed)**

 **Rewards:** **+50 Exp, Increased Reputation, 50 Ryo**

 **Good Job!**

Naruto stared at the box as it appeared between him and Iruka and to his right. Iruka only seemed mildly surprised, but Naruto just seemed weary.

So, rather than griping about not completing the bonus objective, he just shrugged as the box disappeared, "Eh. Good enough... for now."

* * *

Whew! That's done! And, is it just me, or was that faster than usual?

Anyway, see ya later.


	3. Becoming Hokage-kore

Yo! So, first off, here's what I added to the last chapter that I forgot: Naruto's rewards for completing the mission! I can't believe I forgot it! Well, here's the box from the end of last chapter so you don't have to go back to it:

 **Mandatory Mission Completed!**

 **Objective: Defeat Mizuki (COMPLETED!)**

 **Bonus Objective: Learn a new jutsu from the Scroll of Sealing (Not Completed)**

 **Rewards: +50 Exp, Increased Reputation, 50 Ryo**

 **Good Job!**

Also, just a quick thing about these chapter titles that I put in quotes before putting a different title in the box up there: I do that on purpose. The quote is just something I thought would kind of fit with the whole "videogame" theme, while the title up there is the actual title of the chapter.

Note on 10/8/16: Okay, I apologize for being so slow. Writer's block hit me and I decided I would wait until I saw more of the Naruto anime before I wrote any more. So I did, and I am now watching the battle with (SPOILER CENSOR), so it should be interesting.

Note on 10/23/16: Well, I am utterly done with the Naruto anime. ...Now on to movies!

Disclaimer: No, Naruto isn't mine. If it were, Naruto's accidental time travel would be part of canon and things would only have one name each (I'm looking at you, Giant/Big Ball Rasengan...).

* * *

 **Chapter 3: "Self-fatality...?"**

* * *

Naruto sat up in his bed at the ringing of the clock; he stretched and yawned, then rubbed the sleep out of his eye with a fist. He slammed that fist down on the clock to shut off the alarm that was ringing like he had set it last night. Once he did, though, he heard a not-so-familiar _clank_ from the nightstand and turned his head to see what had made that sound. Once he saw it, he smiled and picked it up.

It was, to be clear and not vague like that, Naruto's new Konoha headband, complete with the symbol of all Leaf Shinobi, the leaf with the swirl. He had gotten it last night after escorting an unconscious Mizuki to the authorities...

 _Flashback..._

 _Iruka and Naruto had just turned in Mizuki and they were walking back to Naruto's apartment. Naruto was just staring straight ahead and into space, it seemed; he nearly hit a couple of villagers (who went out of their way to avoid touching him, judging by their frantic scurrying away from him after nearly walking into him), but he didn't notice at all. Iruka, on the other hand, apologized for him every time it (almost) happened along the way, until they got to the building and jumped up to the top floor. They walked to the door of Naruto's apartment._

 _"Naruto, what's wrong? You nearly hit a couple villagers and you haven't said a word since we turned Mizuki in," Iruka asked._

 _Naruto paused at the door. He turned around and faced Iruka for the first time since the end of the fight._

 _"Well... I was just thinking... was it really okay to get Mizuki arrested?" Naruto asked._

 _"Huh? What kind of question is that? What do you mean?" Iruka asked back._

 _"Well, Mizuki just wanted attention when he was younger since he also lost his parents in the attack on the night I was born. But when he saw that you were getting so much attention and he wasn't getting any, he was jealous of you, and he hated you because of it. That's why he was so angry at this 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox' he called me; Kurama was the reason his parents died, and you were the reason he felt so lonely and jealous. He couldn't just take all his anger out on you or anyone else, so he held it all in. He held in so much anger for Kurama that he truly believed that he was me, and so he blamed me for all his problems. I don't like how he kept all of that bottled up inside, but... was arresting him really completely fair, in spite of all that?"_

 _"Naruto..." Iruka paused, unsure of what to say (which he kind of showed when he opened his mouth, then shut it a second after)._ _After spending a moment of what appeared to be thought, Iruka reached behind his head. "I think..." —he untied the knot of his headband, letting it dangle from his hand by the fabric— "...you need..." —he took each end of the fabric and reached behind Naruto's head with them, tying them into a knot— "...to cheer up." He took a step back and smiled at the boy proudly and continued. "You defeated him, and you just graduated. You should be proud that you did the right thing, even if you had your doubts. Plus, I think it's kind of admirable to feel sorry for your enemy, especially if it's sympathy. Be proud, Naruto."_

 _Naruto could only smile. Well... that, and say, "Thanks, Iruka-sensei. That means a lot-ttebayo."_

 _With this, the two parted ways; Iruka went off to his own apartment, while Naruto unlocked and opened the door to his, falling asleep the minute he had taken off his shoes, set the alarm, and hit the bed, not even bothering to change out of his tracksuit._

 _He was so immersed in sleep with that one second being on the bed that he didn't noticed the box that glowed in front of him that read:_

 ** _Training Missions Unlocked! Find them in the Pause Menu._**

 _(Ya know, it's kind of weird that he didn't notice a shape glowing brightly and in front of his face... and this happened in the_ dark _. Really, Naruto?!)_

 _Anyway, back to the present..._

"That's right... he graduated me again..." That statement from himself caused him to realize, "Wow... that might be the weirdest thing I've said so far..." Then he thought for a moment and shook his head, uttering a "Nah!" After looking down, he realized he was in yesterday's orange outfit. "And, of course, I didn't get changed. Man, beating a future rogue ninja sure does make you tired, especially in the middle of the night-ttebayo..." he sheepishly noted.

He then remembered that he had to get to school on time that day.

Looking down at his Game Control, he breathed a sigh of relief; it was 6:00 A.M. Never let it be said that the Hokage did nothing while the village was at peace; that statement applied to the future moreso than now, Konoha's (self-titled) Orange Hokage guessed. It made sense; being the Hokage was already a lot of (paper)work, but the Shinobi Union took additional work to maintain on the parts of all five Kage and Naruto also made time for his friends during his life as Hokage. As such, he was mentally used to waking up at 6:00 in the morning to start work; he must have set the alarm to that time the previous night, if only out of habit. On the bad side, he had set the alarm; school wasn't in session on a weekend like today, but, even if it was, it wouldn't start until 8:00. On the bright side, he had extra time in the day now, if only a couple hours.

Naruto simply stared out the window after seeing the time. "Welp, since I'm free today, I may as well go get my picture taken. But first..." he smirked. He picked up a marker and wrote on his wall. Once he finished with that, he put down the marker and smiled at his handiwork, nodding in approval. Then he turned around and cheered, "Okay! Today's special, so it deserves a special breakfast!"

* * *

"*BUUUUURP* *sigh* That was some good ramen! Shame I don't have that much money, but I can pay them back later when I go on missions with my team-ttebayo!"

Naruto was walking towards the Hokage Mansion after (of course) morning ramen. He had decided to treat himself to Ichiraku's for breakfast instead of a cup of the instant ramen, which tastes like crap by comparison (then again... it's ramen. It made no difference to Naruto). It's not like he had money this time for the ramen he ate, but he did ask them to "put it on his tab." After all, like he said, he could pay them back after he went on missions and got some money, something he would do soon.

Now he was going to get his picture taken, deciding he would still have time even if he walked; it was, after all, only 7:00.

 _ **Ten minutes later...**_

"Say 'Ninja.'"

"Ninja!"

 _Click!_

"Now, take these photos and get out of my sight! The Hokage needs those now," the old man commanded.

"Okay, okay! Geez, you're grumpy, Old Man Genzō..." Naruto complained, taking the folder.

 ** _At the Hokage's office..._**

"Good morning, Gramps! I got my picture taken for my Shinobi ID," Naruto greeted, handing him the pictures as he got to the desk.

"Ah, good. Thank you, Naruto," the old man smiled back, taking the pictures from him and opening the folder, making sure to push his pipe to the side of his mouth. He took out the first picture and raised an eyebrow. He then looked up at Naruto, who was turning around to leave. "Say, Naruto..." he called.

Naruto paused and turned around, his back still facing the old man behind the desk. "Yeah?"

"Well..." The old man started his sentence before immediately pausing for a second, exhaling his smoke. ' _It's certainly strange to see a perfectly ordinary photo..._ ' he mused before continuing his sentence with, "...Your picture looks great."

Naruto smiled and turned to face the old man. "Ah, thanks, Gramps! You have no idea how sad it was to see the other Kage laugh at me for my Genin picture the first time... Luckily for me, Kurotsuchi _also_ had a terrible photo, so I wasn't alone!" he cheered, chuckling after he was done at the funny memory that had been.

The old Sarutobi smiled, grunting in mirth. "Indeed? So the future Tsuchikage had a bad shinobi registration photo as well?" he asked coyly.

That question immediately changed the laughing smile on Naruto's face into a confused frown. "Yeah. How did you know Kurotsuchi was the future Tsuchikage?"

"I recognize the name of the granddaughter of the current Tsuchikage Ohnoki from the previous war. An Iwagakure Kekkei Genkai shinobi of the corrosive Lava Style, she uses it as a type of quicklime to trap her opponents in quick-hardening cement. She gave a couple of our platoons a hard time and, ultimately, we lost those shinobi. And you say she was the next Kage of her village?" the old man explained.

"Yeah. She's really serious, but she's a lot better at paying attention than me, and she's pretty strong, too. I don't know her too much outside of being one of the five Kage in my time, but she seems nice," Naruto explained.

"I see..." The old man sighed. He could tell that he would have to get used to this Naruto that had seen much of the world, perhaps even things that he himself had not seen. For example, Naruto's future was (will be?) very bright, in which a world scarred by war and hatred would be united and the villages that all hold at least one grudge against the others would move past those grudges and create a great world together, one where the "King" would be able to grow positively.

If Naruto wasn't here to be proof of that future, he would not have been able to fathom that future happening so soon... It amazed him immensely.

After his moment of meditation, he decided to change the subject. "So, Naruto-kun, I am quite curious about a few things from your future, if I may ask," he requested.

Naruto nodded. "Shoot," he consented.

"Do you know of your mother and father?" he asked.

Naruto nodded, smiling. "Yep! I even met both of their chakra! I met Dad when my seal nearly broke, and I met Mom when I was fighting Kurama for his chakra. And I know what happened on the day I was born, too. Obito fought my dad and took Kurama from Mom's seal, and then he made him attack the village," he answered.

"'Obito?' Are you referring to 'Uchiha Obito' of Team Minato? Kakashi's teammate? Why would he go so far as to attack the village? Was he not a Konoha shinobi?"

"Well, even though his teammates thought he died, he actually didn't die; he just got separated from Kakashi-sensei and that person Rin for a while..." Naruto would have continued, but the appearance of a body in his peripheral vision drew his attention.

Standing there, reading a blue _Icha Icha_ book, was the silver-haired man he just mentioned, wearing an ordinary green, Konoha flak jacket over the custom undershirt he wore (because it would _have_ to be custom to have at least seven masks attached to it) and some black shinobi pants with a kunai pouch on the seat.

 **Kakashi** **: *closes book, waves lazily* Yo, Sandaime-sama. Long time no see.**

The aforementioned Sandaime, to his credit, did not react openly this time to seeing a figure—one whom he knew was not physically present in that particular area—appear spontaneously and without warning. He merely turned his focus over to that figure and immediately recognized him. "...You are Kakashi, aren't you?"

 **Kakashi** **: Yep.**

"Where is your ninja headband?" the old man wondered.

 **Kakashi** **: I'm retired; I've lived a good life, but it's not my time anymore. My cute little genin became great ninja that carry the Will of Fire. It's _their_ time now. Well... actually, it... was? Will be? Time travel is confusing.**

"I see. So, why are you here? Surely, you did not merely appear for no reason," the Hokage inquired.

 **Kakashi** **: Well, I heard "Obito" and then I decided to eavesdrop. Just thought my input would be helpful.**

"I see... So, is it true? Is Obito really alive?" the old man asked.

 **Kakashi** **: Yeah. Back in our time, Obito disguised himself as Uchiha Madara and started the Fourth Shinobi World War.**

"So he is dangerous and should be labeled as a Rogue Ninja?" the Third Hokage inquired, exhaling some smoke.

 **Kakashi** **: ...I can't stop you from doing so, since I'm in here and you're out there, but I ask that you let Naruto and I deal with him. He's not irredeemable; he's just... following a ghost. It was apparently my fault. He saw Rin the moment my Lightning Blade went through her, and he lost his way. She was the only thing he looked forward to seeing every day, and I... well, I killed her. He decided that this world is too terrible to keep living on in, so he agreed to help the real Madara with his Eye of the Moon Plan.**

This last little tidbit gave the old man quite a start; he kicked his desk on accident, which splintered the wood inside (and that was accompanied by a loud _crunch_ ). "The _real_ Madara, you say? He's still alive?" He wasn't even asking gently now; he was practically interrogating.

 **Kakashi** **: Well, he was, back then. He passed his plan on to Obito before he apparently died, and now Obito follows that plan.**

"I see. And what is this plan you are referring to?"

 **Kakashi** **: The Eye of the Moon Plan. In essence, he intends to put the entire world in a genjutsu called the Infinite Tsukuyomi, which would put everyone in their own dream world and it would be impossible to break.**

"I see... that poses a great threat on the world, doesn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "However, I will trust you, Kakashi. It is hard to accept the loss of a loved one, and if the situation is as serious as you say... I fear he would never step out of the darkness of grief on his own. As for Naruto, I will believe in you too. I have a feeling that you had a great part in that war, didn't you, Naruto?" he asked.

 **Kakashi** **: More or less. He _did_ save everyone multiple times, but he _was_ half the reason the war started in the first place...**

"Hey! That's..." Naruto shouted indignantly.

 **Kakashi** **: *eye smile* Just joking. Man, even as an adult, you're so easy to rile up, Naruto.**

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Naruto pouted, averting his eyes downwards. This back-and-forth cause the old man to start laughing.

It was right at that moment that a little boy decided to run through the door with shuriken in hand, declare, "I'm gonna be the Fifth Hokage-kore!", and... well, trip on his long blue scarf.

' _Oh right... Now I remember this..._ ' Naruto deadpanned.

"*sigh* Konohamaru, what are you doing?" the Hokage-from-Naruto's-childhood asked exasperatedly, having abruptly stopped laughing once he heard the footsteps outside the door.

This boy, now identified as Konohamaru, was holding his head and groaning in pain, his "ow" sounding like whining like a little kid (to be fair, it would be unfair to little kids everywhere to say that that is an unexpected outcome). Finally, he stood and pointed at the old Hokage. "I'm taking that hat, old man!"

"Why? Can't you see I'm in a conversation? It's not polite to interrupt a person's conversation," the old Hokage chided, gesturing to the boy sitting across the room from him. Konohamaru stared at the boy and ran over to him. He pointed an accusatory finger at the torso piece of his orange outfit (there aren't that many ways to say "chest") and growled at him.

"You did that!" he accused.

"Hmm? I did what?" Naruto asked, feigning disinterest (though one could see the small "you're an idiot" smile on his face if one were a shinobi).

"Oh, I see how it is. You set a trap or something, didn't you-kore?!" he shouted.

"And why would I do that? You haven't even talked to me, but you think I set some kind of trap-ttebayo?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"I said 'or SOMETHING'-kore!" Konohamaru shouted.

It was that moment that Konohamaru's apparent supervisor chose to peek his head through the doorway and look around. He, of course, spotted the scene described above and immediately gasped.

"S-Sandaime-sama! Young Master! Kakashi-san! And..." He paused as he looked at the last person in the room. His stare quickly became a glare. ' _...The Kyūbi brat. Why is that nuisance of a dropout here of all places?_ '

Naruto stared at the familiar face before gasping in realization. "Eh? It's the closet pervert... uh, what was your name again?" At this comment/question, the man nearly fell backwards, his round sunglasses nearly falling off.

Then the man stood up in anger again. "I am _not_ a pervert of any sort, you little brat! I am the great teacher Ebisu!" he announced indignantly.

"Oh, right, Ebisu... the closet pervert," Naruto remembered, barely registering that he had called him that unconsciously.

Naturally, that comment had the veins popping out of his forehead. "Will you stop calling me that already?!" Then he turned to Konohamaru. "Young Master, are you alright? I heard you screaming."

"I'm fine, Glasses-sensei. This guy just set a trap for me so my ambush would fail," Konohamaru explained, pointing to the orange jumpsuit (there really aren't that many ways to say "Naruto").

Naruto immediately slapped his face with his palm and sighed in exasperation, and his eyes closed. "You tripped all on your own, you idiot! Don't blame _me_ for that!" he groaned.

"H-How dare you, you orange brat! That is Konohamaru, the Third Hokage's Honorable Grandson! You shouldn't so blatantly disrespect him, or you may regret it!" Ebisu shouted indignantly.

Naruto opened his eyes and stared at Ebisu.

Konohamaru saw this and grinned bitterly. ' _Hmph. This guy stopped talking when he heard that I'm the Third Hokage's grandson. He's no different from everyone else; all bark and no bite when the old man is mentioned,_ ' he assumed.

The Third Hokage and Kakashi, however, saw this as a deadpan stare at Ebisu. To Konohamaru's credit, Naruto did not speak for a second, so he did not hear (or apparently see) Naruto's thoughts on the matter until the deadpan stare had probably taken effect.

"...Yeah, I'm that old man's grandson! Are you scared? You should be!" Konohamaru shouted (it had little to no effect, as the deadpan stare was still there).

"So what? He thought I did something when it was him who tripped. I'm not gonna take the blame for him falling down, and I didn't do anything to him, and it doesn't matter to me that he's Gramps' grandkid; hiding behind his Gramps' reputation is stupid." The serious stare he leveled at Ebisu, while devoid of emotion, conveyed his annoyed state quite well. Ebisu was gaping now, and the old man smiled (though, whether Ebisu noticed or not, none could say).

 **Kakashi** **: Well, you _are_ kinda enabling that behavior, Ebisu-san.**

Suddenly, Naruto's stare turned to Konohamaru and changed into a friendly smile. "Besides, I'm gonna be the Hokage too! If you want the hat, you're gonna have to go through me!" he challenged, jabbing a thumb towards his chest. Then he turned and ran out the door, shouting, "See ya later, Gramps!"

The occupants of the room had all reacted differently to those words: the Hokage stared approvingly at the doorway, Konohamaru seemed to be deliberating something, Ebisu was clenching his teeth together, and Kakashi had been eye smiling.

Finally, Ebisu snapped out of his reverie (even though it wasn't a good one) and looked around, noticing that Kakashi was no longer there. "Where did Kakashi-san go?"

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty simple; after throwing away the milk he knew was expired, he decided to train a little at one of the training grounds. He tried various things: Shadow Clones, Rasengan, Hiraishin, Nine-Tails and Kurama Chakra Modes, and Sage Mode. He found that he could do almost all of these (albeit with slight difficulty; this body would take some getting used to, after all), the only exception being Sage Mode. With that in mind, he decided that training his other skills could wait until he could enter Sage Mode, so he decided to try summoning a toad to help him.

All that did was send him to Mount Myōboku.

 **Ten minutes after arrival...**

"Pa, come quick! There is a boy with Shadow Clones meditating on the rock spires! He's gonna fall if we don't help him!"

This notification from Shima sent Fukasaku out to the rock spires in urgent haste. When they arrived, there was indeed a blond boy sitting on a stone tile on the tallest of the sharp, deadly spires... and the rest of them as well. The green frog stood in front of the tallest spire, observing the scene above. Indeed, there were multiple blond boys attempting to meditate on the rock spires, but they were all trembling terribly, like a large boulder perched precariously on the edge of a tall cliff, ready to fall with but a nudge. As soon as he saw this, all of them did indeed fall; as they hit the rock spires, they vanished in a plume of smoke, with one of them emerging from the smoke unharmed. He jumped and landed right in front of Fukasaku and Shima.

' _Shadow Clones? This young child made this many Shadow Clones?_ ' Inwardly, Fukasaku was intrigued. However, he decided to let only a small curiosity show itself on his face. "Might I ask who you are and why you are here, child? You don't usually see visitors to this place," he asked.

"Oh, right," he mumbled, followed by even quieter mumblings that nobody but the boy himself could hear. Then, he smiled. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I was practicing sitting still; I can't go into Sage Mode if I'm moving too much, so I wanted to summon a toad to help me practice, but I forgot that I haven't signed the Summoning Contract yet, so now I'm here. Oh, by the way, do you know where Gerotora is? I need the key to my seal; Kurama doesn't like being locked up in there, but, with the whole thing with Mizuki, I kinda forgot—"

"Slow down, child! This is a great amount of information for me to process at the rate you're talking," Fukasaku interrupted, waving his little frog hands in front of him.

"Oh, sorry," Naruto chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"One thing at a time. You are Uzumaki Naruto? The boy who has the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within him?" Fukasaku asked.

"Yep! But things are kinda complicated; I'm from the future, so I know a lot more than the old me knew. And his name is Kurama," Naruto explained, maintaining his happy expression as he talked.

"'From the future?'" Shima asked, clearly intrigued.

"'Kurama?'" Fukasaku asked, clearly confused.

"Really, Pa? _That's_ the thing you focus on?" Shima deadpanned.

"Well, he would _have_ to be from the future to know about Mount Myōboku, the Toads, the Toad Summoning Contract, Sage Mode, and Gerotora specifically, _Ma_! I don't think Jiraiya-chan has even met the boy yet," Fukasaku countered cheekily.

"That's... Ugh, fine, you win this one."

Nodding in satisfaction and agreement, Fukasaku turned back to Naruto. "However, that name you mentioned is news to me. Why is he called Kurama?" he asked.

"Well, that's the name Super Gramps gave him. He gave _all_ the Tailed Beasts names, since they're all unique," Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

"'Super Gramps?'" Shima asked, not following.

"You know, the Sage of the Six Paths?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"You call such a legendary man 'Super Gramps?'" Shima asked, clearly conflicted between being astonished by the fact that this unassuming-looking boy—meaning he was probably more than that, if his comment held truth—referred to such a powerful (and long-dead) shinobi with such a familiar title, and being confused at the apparent lack of a reason for it.

"Yeah. I met his ghost in... er, the future. He told me I was the reincarnation of his son or something, but I don't really care about that," Naruto explained.

Fukasaku sighed. "Okay, I want to ask, but I have other questions, so I'll ask later and we'll move on. Now, am I correct to assume that, in your future, we taught you our Toad Sage Mode?" he asked, clearly happy to change the subject (if only because this subject was giving him a small headache).

Naruto smiled. "Yep! I even did better than Dad and Ero-sennin!" he bragged, his smile becoming proud (clearly of himself).

"But, if this is true, then why did you need to practice sitting still?"

Naruto's face immediately fell, but he picked himself up quite fast. "Well, this isn't my body from the future, and I noticed that I couldn't pull the Nature Energy into me because I was moving a lot more than I was in the future, so I came to practice on these rocks," he explained.

"I see. You can sense it all around you, then?" Shima inquired; the response to her inquiry was a nod and a "mm-hmm" from Naruto.

"And you felt it was okay to do this unsupervised?" Fukasaku's voice hardened as he asked this question.

Naruto simply pouted. "I'm not this little kid inside, you know-ttebayo? I'm from the future! I was an adult when me and Haruka-chan just woke up and found out that I was suddenly a man in a boy's body; please trust in my decisions," he countered, gesturing to his standing form.

"Ah. I see. ...So, there is another who came from this future of yours?" Fukasaku asked, clearly changing the subject on purpose.

 **Haruka** **: Indeed.**

All three of them looked to the figure that appeared next to Naruto, the figure of an unassuming girl that could have been this boy's female counterpart.

 **Haruka** **: ...Though it's a slightly more complicated situation.**

"How so?" Fukasaku asked.

 **Haruka** **: Well, I was born into the world of the future as a piece of technology that does not exist in this time. However, I became... organic, for lack of a better term. I do not think in ones and zeroes or see squares like I would have as a computer. That is the basic gist of my situation.**

"I see. However, that does not answer my last question: why do you want to see Gerotora? If you are from the future, then you surely know what you are getting into, correct? Are you ready to face the demon within that seal of yours?"

 **Haruka** **: *scoff* Stop being melodramatic, Old Sage. Kurama's not _that_ bad, and I would wager that neither are Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei, or Gyūki. They are all misunderstood because humans that have not ever used their chakra cannot hear their voices, and those that have, those called jinchūriki, have preconceptions that originated from hatred and that they are rid of only after spending much time with their Tailed Beast. Besides, humans angered them first by sealing them away, taking away their freedom without giving them any say in it, and all for a short-sighted increase in military strength. And, finally, the people who do not know enough about the world of shinobi are unable to use logic to undermine their hatred of these Tailed Beasts when they were finally released from their seals because, by that point, the Tailed Beasts had accumulated such hatred that they become monsters and went on a rampage whenever they could. For example, a few decades in this past, Gyūki—the Eight Tails—was released from his seal by Orochimaru. Orochimaru, however, did nothing to cause him to attack the Hidden Cloud; he attacked of his own will.**

Fukasaku and Shima did not speak for a minute, taking that all in. Naruto, in the meantime, smiled.

"That's right. Kurama's actually a great person, even though he's a giant fox; heck, he even got scared of my daughter after that one time when she poked me in the gut really hard and knocked me out," he added, chuckling.

"...I see. It appears the people of the world were at fault for causing their anger. I apologize to this... Kurama." Fukasaku bowed his head, and Shima did the same (after a brief, "I'm sorry too,").

Naruto looked at them and was about to speak when the voice in his head (no, I'm not implying that he's crazy) spoke to him. After he heard that, Naruto's eyes changed from the blue that they were to the crimson of Kurama's eyes with narrow pupils.

" **Don't worry about it, Old Frog. I'm not one for revenge, anyway. Heh... this guy's made me soft** **,** " came the voice of Kurama.

The two old frogs looked up and noticed these changes in the eyes and voice and drew their conclusions. "The Nine—wait, not Nine-Tails, but Kurama, right?"

" **It doesn't matter. I am Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox. I have no need to cover my ears every time I hear that title, since it is part of who I am. I am not completely blameless for wreaking havoc and destruction in the past** ," he stated matter-of-factly, then adding, " **However, I _would_ like more room in here for my counterpart from this time. He's being real annoying about it, and there's nothing wrong with unlocking the seal, especially since there's nothing to fear from us. So, if we could please hurry up with giving Naruto the key, I would appreciate it, and so would the other Kurama**."

 _Flashback: A few minutes ago..._

 _Naruto had just finished checking to see what he could do in terms of his Nine-Tails and Kurama Chakra Modes when he heard Kurama's familiar voice._

 _' **Yo, brat**.'_

 _'Hmm? Kurama? What is it?'_

 _' **Tch. I'm going to have a rough time getting used to a jinchūriki calling me by name, and especially this soon**.'_

 _'Half-Kurama? What did you need?' Naruto asked._

 _' **Stop calling me that! Just "Kurama" is fine! And** **I want out of this seal, brat. I know the other me over there is in an open seal right now, and I'm jealous. I want to be free too** ,' he explained._

 _'Ah! I knew I was forgetting something! I have to go get the key from Gerotora—oh, wait, I can't yet. I haven't technically signed the Summoning Contract yet, so they won't recognize me, so I have to wait until I can summon the Toads. Sorry, Half-Kurama._ _'_

 _' **Tch. Whatever, brat. I just want to be free of this oppressive cage. And quit calling me "Half-Kurama!"** ' the fox complained._

 _'Don't worry! I will definitely unlock the seal! I just need to wait until I can sign the Summoning Contract!' Naruto consoled him._

 ** _Haruka_** ** _: Naruto, use the Summoning Jutsu._**

 _'Huh? Why?'_

 ** _Haruka : Just do it. You'll get help that way, trust me._**

 _'Okay, okay, Haruka-chan.' With that, he bit his thumb and went through the few hand signs to he would use to summon a toad normally. "Summoning Jutsu!"_

 _And, with that, he disappeared from Training Ground 4 for no apparent reason. At least, that's what a new arrival would have seen._

 _When he oriented himself, Naruto looked around once he smelled the familiar smell of oil and bugs._

 _"EH? How did I end up here?"_

 ** _Haruka_ _: I knew it._  
**

 _"Knew what now?"_

 ** _Haruka_** ** _: Well, it was more of a theory, but it has proven to be correct. You had a great affinity for working with Toad summons even before you knew of their existence, so you were brought here, to Mount Myōboku, even though you had not yet met the holder of the Toad Summoning Contract._**

 _"Oh. Well, anyway, we should probably find Gerotora... but how do we do that?" Naruto asked, putting his hand to his chin._

 _' **You could try attempting to enter Sage Mode; surely the disturbance would rouse some attention** ,' Kurama suggested._

 _"Oh yeah!" With that revelation, Naruto sat in the meditative stance of the toads and attempted just that. He felt the rich fog of Nature Energy of Mount Myōboku, but he had no good hold on it; it kept "slipping" from his pull, for lack of a better term. He could sense that he was moving ever so slightly, which was making it impossible to actually pull Nature Energy into himself, as every little movement would make him lose focus, which would make him lose that grip on Nature Energy. Naruto sighed in frustration. "No good."_

 _' **Yeah, I figured as much. After all, this is your little-kid body from before you learned to use Sage Mode. You couldn't sit still as a kid, so why should it be different in your little kid body? That's why I said "attempt." Can't you just go to those rock spires and try to sit still on them? Your loud screaming should be heard by some unlucky passing toad** ,' Kurama explained._

 _"Hey!"_

 _'Naruto, you should probably stop talking out loud. Even if you're talking to us, it's unhealthy to say things to nobody in particular,' came the voice of Sakura._

 _'Oh, right. Thanks, Sakura-chan!'_

 _'Hn. Idiot,' Sasuke chided._

 _'Hey!'_

 _With that (and the resulting chuckling/giggling from the other ninja), Naruto took off for the rock spires._

 _Back to the present..._

"Ah. Most certainly, Kurama-san," Shima agreed with Kurama's earlier statement, nodding her head.

" **I'm going to give Naruto control again now** ," Kurama informed everyone before Naruto's eyes promptly became blue again.

* * *

 **Two days later, on Monday...**

Naruto was now sitting in the large classroom, waiting for Iruka to start assigning teams while wearing his Konoha headband (like all of the others in the class). Everyone else was too, but they were milling about, talking to friends while Naruto sat alone on the other side of the bench from Sasuke, who was also alone (relatively, at least; he chose to ignore the girls that chose to fawn over him for no apparent reason) and staring straight ahead. Since he was bored, he decided to practice sitting still in the midst of all this chaos. After the whole business with the seal, Naruto had kept practicing on those rocky spires with his many Shadow Clones, impressing Fukasaku with his patience (the patience that he exercised when molding Sage Chakra) and ability to draw in Nature Energy. The old frog had not even had to use a stick to beat the Nature Energy out of him, so that was a plus. Now, Naruto could, at least, use Sage Jutsu once the weekend was over, and that was an improvement. Still, practice makes perfect, and he just happened to be able to practice his skill in gathering Nature Energy right now, more so than any of his other abilities.

So, while others were standing, sitting, talking, fawning (meaning the fangirls like Sakura and Ino), or Sasuke, Naruto was meditating, putting his hands together into the hand seal for gathering Nature Energy, and nobody seemed to notice.

Well, except Hinata, but she had a reason for being the only one.

Then, while Naruto went into Sage Mode for practice, Sakura and Ino burst into the room, breathing heavily.

"Heh. I win again, Foreahead!" Ino said between pants.

"What are you talking about? I was in the room a half-second faster than you!" Sakura countered.

Naruto, now fully in Sage Mode, smiled. ' _Heh. It's you and Ino, Sakura-chan!_ ' he remarked.

' _Yeah, yeah, I can see that, Naruto_ ,' Sakura commented.

 **Haruka** **: Naruto, I'll take your Sage Chakra now since you don't immediately need it. I will use that chakra for something. I'll explain later.**

' _Okay, Haruka-chan_ ,' Naruto acknowledged, the pigmentation of his eyes disappearing. With that, he turned around to greet the younger Sakura, who was running towards him, only for her to shove him off the bench.

Not batting an eyelash, she greeted her crush with a happy, "Good morning, Sasuke-kun. May I sit next to you?"

Before Naruto could say anything, Ino came up and started an argument over who should sit next to Sasuke, which attracted the attention of all the other girls that had an infatuation with the tall, dark, broody, and single Uchiha (the fact that they didn't focus on the fact that he was one of the only a couple Uchiha left in existence, instead prioritizing the fact that he had no known girlfriend, proved that it was quite an infatuation).

Naruto decided to pipe up despite having been rudely tossed off the bench like a ragdoll. "Ya know, I think Sakura-chan should sit next to him—"

Then the crowd of girls that wasn't Sakura (because she had no reason to beat him up, even though she hated him) immediately started to beat up the little boy, making comments that ran along the lines of, "We don't wanna hear that, so shut up!" In this commotion, Sakura took a seat next to Sasuke, who was observing the mess Naruto had made of his quiet time.

' _Hn. What a bunch of annoying girls_ ,' he chided, choosing to then look away.

Sakura, meanwhile, was seeing Naruto in a slightly new light. Specifically, she was wondering why _Naruto_ of all people was sticking up for her specifically, which was something he did not expect out of the loud, immature runt that for some reason had a crush on her. Yes, she could tell he was infatuated with her, and no, she could not have cared less when she had first discovered that. _Now_ , though... it was almost as if Naruto was _encouraging_ her to sit next to her crush, as if he knew that she loved Sasuke the most, in spite of those feelings. Was he always this... nice?

(It's funny when people think these kinds of things offhandedly like this, not knowing how true such thoughts are. Oh, dramatic irony, you are golden, and especially so in anime).

The arrival of Iruka brought everyone back to their seats. "Okay, class, get to your seats. Girls? Why are you all hitting Naruto? Did he say something?" he instructed, turning to the group of girls in the middle of the middle aisle of the classroom. They all dismissed the notion that Naruto had insulted them and found a bench to sit at (seeing as it was technically just team assignments, it didn't really matter where they sat, and none of them wanted to sit next to someone who would send them smug looks over her victory, hence finding another seat). The aforementioned boy simply stood up and sat next to Sakura. She did not send him any glare, like she normally would have for him, but she did not look at him in gratitude, like she would have to someone else that might have treated her nicely.

With that taken care of, and everyone seated where they should be (and Naruto resting his bruised physique), Iruka proceeded to explain what would happen next: all the new Genin of the room would be assigned to a team composed of three Genin and one Jōnin Sensei, and that each team had been balanced such that they all have the same level of ability. Naturally, everyone had mixed reactions to this (Ino and Sakura started some competitive banter, for example). Then, Iruka proceeded to announce all the team match-ups.

 **Once that was done...**

Once the ten teams had been announced, everyone had been dismissed for the rest of the morning (which wasn't long; the Academy had started later today since such a short period of time was all there was to team assignments, so it was around lunchtime now). Sakura was now looking for Sasuke, who seemed to be nowhere in particular since she couldn't find him.

"Sasuke-kun! Where are you? Let's eat lunch together! We're on the same team now, so I wanted to be with you!" she called, her efforts proving to go unheard. She sighed in disappointment.

"Sakura-chan! Wanna eat lunch together? We're on the same team now, so I want to eat with you," came Naruto's voice from behind her. She inwardly groaned while she turned around, but the glare she was so ready to give him faded once she set eyes on him. No, she was not suddenly having some out-of-character change in crushes (looking at you, rabid fans of any ship; unlike some, if not all, of you, I appreciate a good plot that actually _builds_ _up_ a relationship between Naruto and someone rather than just _giving_ Naruto that relationship, and this is especially true for Sakura because she's temperamental, but I digress); Sasuke was still her crush. However, she could not bring herself to glare at him after what he did for her in class just now—or, rather, what his standing up for her meant about her preconceptions of him (and she was absolutely sure he was being nice to her, seeing as he had smiled at her after taking a beating from her "love rivals")—nor could she be brutally honest and tell him how she really felt about him. She felt guilty when she imagined saying, "Why in the world would I eat with you? You're annoying," so she decided against it. That was the least she could do.

Instead, she chose to politely say, "No, thank you, Naruto. I wanted to eat with Sasuke-kun."

"Why? ...Oh, wait, it's because you like him, isn't it?" Naruto asked. Sakura could only nod, seeing as she was on her guard because he didn't act like she expected him to. Of course, though, the "polite" effect of her nod was slightly undermined by her blush, which any thought of Sasuke could bring to her face.

Naruto merely nodded. "Ah, I see. I'll let you eat alone with him, then," he smiled, surprising her. With that, he jumped away into the trees so that he might jump to the rooftops, leaving a surprised Sakura behind him.

' _Was Naruto always this... nice?_ ' she wondered, putting her hand to her chin for a second. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she decided to keep looking for Sasuke.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto had grabbed his lunch and was now sitting on top of a water tower. As he ate his cup ramen, he looked around to see who he could see. He could see a few teams, the closest one being Ino's team (she was loud enough for him to hear her from the next building over), but he also could see Sasuke eating his lunch alone through the window of the building across the street. Smiling, he went back to his lunch, not preferring to go in there and beat him up for no particular reason (as such a thing would have been this time). His smile, however, was slightly wider.

 **Meanwhile...**

While Naruto was enjoying his lunch in relative company, Kakashi and the Hokage were in Naruto's apartment. Kakashi was looking around while the old man was seated at the young boy's breakfast table. Kakashi was surprised to find that everything was mostly neat; he had a laundry basket lying sideways next to his bed, but it was empty anyway. Other than that, Naruto's room lacked dust and clutter for the most part.

"So, this is Uzumaki Naruto's house, huh... I would have expected him to have expired food somewhere, at least," Kakashi commented, staring at some writing on the wall above the bed.

"Do you believe me now? Or do you need more proof than this?" the old man asked bemusedly.

"No, I get it. Naruto's more than meets the eye, isn't he?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes. He has suffered much pain throughout his life, yet he does not let that obscure the sun of his bright personality. He's much older than he seems; he has learned the most important lesson you teach, it seems," the old man explained.

"Really? What of his teammates?"

The old man shook his head. "They are no different from last week or the week before. The last Uchiha, Sasuke, wishes to take revenge on the killer of his entire clan, and Haruno Sakura still follows him on a puppy-love crush. They are both still immature children. Naruto, though, is mature now, despite his body being that of a child," he explained.

"Oh? You make it sound like he was possessed by a ghost," Kakashi noted bemusedly.

Instead of countering, the old man merely smiled. "Perhaps," he commented vaguely. Kakashi opted to stare at the writing Naruto had apparently left for him: it read, "Good morning, Kakashi-sensei!" and there was a little autograph with an Uzumaki swirl and a little drawing of a smiling Naruto face.

 **In the afternoon...**

It was kind of an ironic situation. Here she was, in the same room as the loudest kid in the graduating class, and she was the only one that showed signs of complaining that their sensei was at least a whole hour late.

"What kind of sensei do we have that has to be more than ten minutes late to pick up his own Genin?" she complained. She was, sadly to her, met with silence from Sasuke and a snore from Naruto (' _Did he always have that makeup on his eyelids? No, I'm sure he didn't._ ') Sakura had just _had_ it. Sasuke, she could forgive for being silent (because that made him cool), but Naruto's silence just made her feel guilty. Had he finally stopped talking to her just because she wanted to sit with her Sasuke-kun for lunch? The suspense was killing her. Of course, she knew he was sleeping, but he was awake half an hour ago, and he still didn't speak to her.

Finally, she couldn't quite hold it in anymore. She stood up from the desk she had been leaning against, walked over to the snoring Naruto, picked up his head with one hand, and brought the other forward in a fist.

"Don't ignore me!" she shouted, knocking Naruto's head into the wooden desk behind him.

If he wasn't awake before (and he _obviously_ wasn't), then he was certainly awake now. Why, you ask? Well, usually, people have to be awake to scream.

And Naruto was _definitely_ doing that.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWIIEE! Sakura-chan, why'd ya do that? That hurt!"

A tic mark formed on her forehead. "You were ignoring me earlier, weren't you?" she growled.

"Wha-? No! That's not what it was at all!"

"Then why wouldn't you talk to me?! Do you know how boring it was being the only one that would say anything? I'm dying here!" she asked.

Once she said that, he stared at the desk. "Oh, I see. I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I was practicing sitting still, and it takes some concentration, so I didn't hear you. I'm sorry I didn't say anything," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura sighed. She clearly didn't believe that, even for a second. "Are you mad about earlier?" she asked, her voice coming out softer than a minute ago.

Naruto looked back up at her face. "Huh? What about earlier?" he asked.

"Are you mad that I wanted to eat lunch with Sasuke-kun?" she asked, louder but somehow less angry and more guilty than before.

"Of course not. You like him, right? Of course I'm gonna let you two eat alone if it's for that," Naruto answered.

"But didn't you have, like, some crush on me? That I kept beating away?" Sakura asked, confused more than anything. Surely even little feelings of love can't change that quickly... can they?

She was quickly surprised again. "Yeah, I used to. But... I've moved on. I love someone else now," he told her. With that, he assumed that meditative pose again.

Sakura was indeed very surprised by this. Not even a week ago, he had tried to give her a random present for no real reason, and she had punched the boy and tossed the present in the trash, proclaiming she has no need for useless things like the box he had given her (and, no, she had not opened it). And now he was saying he likes someone else? That he _loves_ someone else now? It seemed more like an obvious lie than it should have, if only because the timing was the least bad for Naruto that it could have been.

' _Still, should I even care? I mean, I know he's my teammate, but, without him pestering me, I can finally focus entirely on Sasuke-kun_ ,' she wondered, mulling it over.

Still, she found herself betraying her own thoughts with her counterpoint, ' _But... it's not good to lie about something like that, either, and Naruto shouldn't lie about loving someone. If he were really over me, it would have to have been since less than a week ago, and nobody can fall in love that fast._ Especially _not him._ '

However, before she could say anything on the subject (much less finish thinking it over), Naruto opened his eyes. "He's coming! Finally!" he announced.

Sakura snapped out of her stupor. "You mean our sensei? Really?" she asked in excited astonishment.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. "How would _you_ know?" he asked.

Naruto faced him and stared him straight in the eyes. "Sage Mode. That's how," the blond answered.

"Sage Mode?" Sakura asked, "You mean Sage Jutsu that the Fourth Hokage could use?" Naruto merely nodded an affirmative.

"Is that why your eyes are different from before?" Sasuke asked. He also received a nod.

"In Sage Mode, I am better at sensing things with chakra, and I can do a bunch of other cool things, too!" Naruto answered. Then he added, "...Including Sage Jutsu."

Then Naruto turned to the door. "You can come in now, Kakashi-sensei! I know you're there!"

Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to hear a sigh coming from behind the screen door (albeit slightly muffled by the door itself) and even more surprised to see it open. In stepped the tall, silver-haired man that covered most of his face most of the time. He lazily waved a hand. "Yo."

The three new genin simply stared at Kakashi, not saying anything. Finally, after all of ten seconds, Naruto laughed. "Oh man! We've been here for half an hour! As expected of Kakashi-sensei!" he smiled jovially.

Kakashi sighed.

Kakashi-in-Naruto's-head asked, ' _Was I really always that late?_ '

' _Seriously?_ ' Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all rhetorically asked at once in Naruto's head, their voice a deadpan tone.

Back in the real world, Sasuke and Sakura sent the smiling Naruto a confused look. This kept up for a few moments.

Then Kakashi spoke up. "Hmm... My first impression of you guys: ...you're all weird. Especially you, blondie," he informed them, making Sasuke and Sakura twitch.

Naruto, however, merely took his smile down a notch. "Yeah, yeah, Kakashi-sensei. Did you get my note?" he asked.

"I did. Why?"

"So you _were_ in my room this morning!"

"Huh? How would you know that?" Sakura asked.

"I wrote that note above my bed. ...In my apartment."

"So... you broke into his apartment, sensei?" Sakura's stare went from Naruto to Kakashi.

"Well, it's not breaking in if I use a key," Kakashi lazily argued.

"So the dobe gave you a key?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope," Naruto answered.

"So... where did you get the key?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, from somewhere," Kakashi answered vaguely. Then, pulling out his book and staring at a page in the middle, he said, "Come on. Let's continue this conversation on the roof." Then he flickered away in a plume of smoke.

Sakura then turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "Is anyone else annoyed we got a stalker for a sensei?"

* * *

 _Whistle..._

Naruto was strolling through the empty street, walking leisurely to his apartment (and whistling... the music notes don't show up... _drat_...). Having already left the meeting, he decided he had nothing better to do, so he decided to go home and practice Sage Mode.

Then he was being followed.

It's not that he _thought_ he was being followed. He _knew_ he was being followed. Why?

1) The clumsy sound of untrained ninja feet is painfully obvious to a great ninja.

2) Whenever he turned around, there was always something painfully out of place, like a portion of a wood wall that wasn't even aligned with the rest of it.

3) Naruto knew this technique well; even as a brat, he used it often (though Naruto executed it very well).

4) Seeing all these things made Naruto remember when this happened last time.

So, naturally, Naruto kept walking until he made it to his apartment. He decided to take the stairs this time instead of jumping all the way to the top floor if only to let his tag-along follow him easily enough.

Eventually, Naruto was in front of his apartment's door. He then turned around and saw... brown hair sticking up from a poor disguise. The green wall had vertical planks of wood on the lower half and a beige-ish smooth upper half; this "disguise" was mostly horizontal green planks with the lower fifth or so being blindingly white. On top of that, there were visible hands holding up what was obviously a bad wall disguise.

Naruto sighed. "Okay, now that we're alone, we can talk in private, Konohamaru."

After having no response for a second, said boy dropped the disguise with a smile on his face. "I _knew_ you were different! Good job detecting me-kore," the boy praised.

"...You were doing that technique all wrong. I could see you anytime I turned around," was all Naruto had to say to that.

Konohamaru apparently ignored him. "Listen... you're strong, right?" he asked.

"Huh? Well, yeah, I am, but why are you asking-ttebayo?" Naruto asked him.

"I want you to teach me a jutsu that can beat Gramps-kore!"

"No."

Konohamaru was rather surprised by that sudden refusal; he had expected a less... _succinct_ answer, and was hoping for one in his favor (or at least _some_ hesitation on Naruto's part).

Naturally, he tried to rectify his confusion. "What? Why?" he asked. "I'm the grandson of the Third Hokage, so if I beat Gramps, I can become the Fifth Hokage! Wouldn't you be honored to teach me if I became the Hokage-kore?"

"Konohamaru, do you really think you're gonna become Hokage by beating the Old Man in a fight? In the office a while ago, you didn't even trip on your scarf; you tripped on absolutely _nothing_... in a room with a smooth wood floor-ttebayo. How do you expect to dodge any jutsu he uses if _that's_ how you move around in a fight? Some jutsu will almost kill you if they touch you," Naruto asked him. Naturally, Konohamaru stopped blabbering to think about that.

Then Naruto gave pause before continuing. "Wait, you... you're lonely, aren't you-ttebayo?"

Konohamaru sputtered at the sudden change to _this_ kind of subject. "Wh-What? Why are you asking me that? Of course I'm not lonely! I'm the grandson of the Third Hokage!" he bragged, smiling—though Naruto could easily pick up on its incredulity.

"Don't lie! I saw how the Closet Pervert called you 'Young Master' earlier, and a couple other people called you 'Honorable Grandson' when they said 'hi' to you on the way here. Nobody calls you by your name, and you're sick of it, is that it? Is that why you want the Hokage title so badly?" he asked.

Konohamaru—naturally—gasped. "H... How did you know that?" he asked in astonishment.

Naruto decided it would be best if Konohamaru and he talked this out. With that, he changed his original plan. "Come on inside. We can talk in my apartment," he replied, putting his key in the keyhole and opening the door.

 **Once they sat down...**

Both Naruto and Konohamaru had each sat at Naruto's dinner table, next to each other while they both had some orange juice—"Sorry, Konohamaru. It's all I have," Naruto had said—sitting in plastic cups on the table in front of them. Konohamaru was staring at the cup and Naruto was staring at him, waiting for him to start talking, since neither of them had done so since Naruto sat down after pouring the orange juice.

Finally, Konohamaru spoke. "It's true," he said, "I hate it. When people talk to me, they don't see a unique person; all they see is the grandson of the Third Hokage. They give me everything I want just because their beloved leader is my gramps, and they treat me like some little princess that needs to be pampered every day..."

Naruto nodded. "I see."

There were another few moments of silence, which they both spent looking at each other, before Naruto spoke again. "When I was younger, and even now, the villagers don't call me 'Naruto,' either. Because of something that happened to Konoha twelve years ago, they just call me 'that boy.' I can feel that nobody looks at me like I'm a unique person either. They throw me out of shops and they ignore me just because of what happened on the day I was born. Only one person sees me when looking at me, and that took a lot of work," he explained, not breaking his gaze.

"Then you should be able to understand, right? I want to become the Hokage so people will see me, and then they'll have to call me 'Konohamaru!'" Konohamaru explained.

"Of course I get it! I want to become the Hokage, too-ttebayo!"

"Then why won't you teach me?"

"You asked me to teach you a technique that can beat the Old Man! I can't do that for you!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's the same as asking me for a shortcut to becoming the strongest ninja in the village," Naruto answered, "and that doesn't help you become the Hokage. Nobody else can make you stronger; only you can do that, and that takes a lot of time. Plus, beating the old man and becoming the Hokage are two different things! It's not so easy to become the Hokage that you can just _want it_ and make it come to you that way! There's bound to be pain on the path to becoming Hokage, and you can't get out of it with some shortcut."

Naruto let that sink in for a second before continuing. "A great brother who was also a ninja told me that 'the person who gains everyone's acknowledgment can become the Hokage,' not the other way around. To do that, you have to be ready for it!"

"'Ready...?' For what, exactly?"

"For accepting that the long, hard road to Hokage," Naruto explained, "is the _only_ road to Hokage! That's the only way anyone's gonna see you as a great Hokage!"

Then Naruto smiled confidently. "And there's one more thing: if you want to become the Hokage that bad, you're gonna have to go through me! So let's compete for it in the future, okay, Konohamaru?"

Konohamaru was having an epiphany. ' _...So that's why... I can't be Hokage as I am now, huh?_ ' he asked, already knowing the answer. He had been living his life until now thinking that there was only one little thing he had to do to get people to stop calling him 'Honorable Grandson' and start calling him 'Konohamaru,' but Naruto was right: it was probably not such a "little" task, or something a little kid could be; after all, _everyone_ looks up to the Hokage, right? That's right... the Hokage is the ninja that everyone smiles at, that puts everyone at ease in this village, that everyone _respects_. How could a little kid like him earn the respect of everyone in this village right now? It's impossible, because that's not how it works. But he could _definitely_ become that ninja after a lot of working for that respect, after spending a lot of time earning that respect. After all, Boss couldn't possibly do it so fast either, right?

Having changed his point of view, he smiled and nodded. "Got it! I won't let you beat me, Naruto-nii-chan!"

* * *

The little boy in his apartment having left, Naruto finished his orange juice (Konohamaru had finished his before leaving), put away the cups (unlike in his actual childhood, Naruto knew how to do dishes this time), and went back to his original plan. Which was...

Then he remembered. ' _Hey, Haruka-chan, what did you do with my Sage Chakra earlier? You said you'd explain..._ '

 **Haruka** **: Ah, yes. I did two things: I studied it so that I may produce it in the future, which I have been successful in doing, albeit in small amounts.**

' _Really?! Cool! You're a Sage too, now!_ ' Naruto remarked, smiling.

 **Haruka** **: I suppose I am. Anyway, as for what I did with the actual chakra itself, I stored it away in a separate reserve so I may make a Hundred Healings Mark.**

' _Eh? You mean like that mark that Granny Tsunade and Sakura-chan have on their foreheads?_ ' Naruto asked.

 **Haruka** **: Yes.**

' _But that requires a constant supply of chakra! That means you've been taking Naruto's chakra all day! Are you sure he'll be okay, Haruka?_ ' Sakura asked in Naruto's head.

 **Haruka** **: Well, considering he hasn't felt any effects of chakra drainage all day, I would assume that he will be fine. He has much larger natural chakra reserves than you do, which is combined with the fact that those natural reserves are stronger than average and the fact that he doesn't actually have to do anything; I am the one infusing and channeling the chakra into the separate reserve. I am merely using his chakra to infuse Sage Chakra and then using that to create the Hundred Healings Mark.**

' _But why didn't you tell me? Sure, I barely feel it, but you still should have told me you were using my chakra like that!_ ' Naruto scolded.

 **Haruka** **: I'm sorry, Naruto. I planned on telling you once you got here, but then you talked with Konohamaru, so I decided to wait until he was gone to tell you.**

' _Still, why are you doing this? Why this sudden interest in a powerful jutsu? And, no less, using Sage Chakra_ _?_ ' Shikamaru asked her.

 **Haruka** **: I intend to use it for myself. I find myself with a... feeling... that even we, with our foreknowledge of certain subjects, will not be able to predict some of the things that might happen in the future. When I was travelling through time, I found that I was in a... space between worlds, of a sort... a place where I could see many alternate universes, different versions of this world with different events, captured in bubbles through which I could see the many different things Naruto or others could have become. When I grabbed Naruto and transported us to another version of Naruto's chakra that was in one of these alternate universes, I could not tell the difference until I found that we were trapped in a child's body. And that is how the Hiraishin normally works; using Lightning Chakra, the user would teleport to a seal embedded with the user's chakra. The user can, however, teleport to somewhere that has no marking, but the user's chakra is still required. However, when I moved to this version of Naruto's chakra... I saw some versions of Naruto's same body behind me that I am sure were not there before I moved. At the very least, I want to be somewhat prepared in case something unexpected or unprecedented happens with these universes I apparently created. If I know of it, chances are that it could affect us.**

None of the others really knew what to say to that. It was a lot of information in a small amount of time (not everyone was smart enough to process it so fast *cough*Shikamaru*cough*), and it was hard to imagine other versions of Naruto being created by that.

Naruto was the first to speak. ' _Well then, I'll just train even harder! I'll build up my chakra so I'll feel the drain even less! I'll beat this little body into shape in no time! Then things will be easier, right? You'll be able to work without worrying about me getting hurt?_ '

 **Haruka** **: Probably.**

' _Alright, then it's settled! I'll do lots more exercise starting tomorrow!_ ' Naruto announced.

' _Huh? Why tomorrow? Why not now?_ ' Ino asked him.

' _Well, there's no huge rush to this. I'm going to do it; the details can come later_ _,_ ' Naruto explained.

' _He's just too lazy to start today,_ ' Kakashi "translated."

' _Hey!_ '

' _You know, I'm getting pretty used to being in a sewer... Should I be worried by that?_ ' Ino asked.

 **Haruka** **: You know, I've been meaning to ask... what are you guys still doing down there? You do know that I am a separate entity from Naruto, right? I may not have my own physical body, but I do have my own mind. And, considering I'm a computer, I may even be in control of what it would look like since I worked with that even before I changed, but, even if I don't, it would still look much nicer than that sewer.**

' _...And you didn't say this before because...?_ ' Ino asked, deadpanning it.

 **Haruka** **: *sarcastic* I dunno. You're the one from a _mind reader_ clan. You tell me why _you_ never thought to ask.**

' _Looks like Ino found a new rival..._ ' Chōji commented, to which Sakura giggled.

' _Heheh... she's good,_ witty _._ _I like her!_ ' Temari chuckled.

 **Haruka** **: Thank you. Even though I am a computer and titles like 'Kazekage's sister' mean practically nothing to me, it's nice to know I'm being praised.**

Naruto chuckled in the real world. Ino was probably feeling... swear-words right now.

* * *

YAY! Done! YAY.


End file.
